Humble and Scheme
by Mymomomo
Summary: Yukio Hans Vorarlberna was lazy, childish, and unmotivated, right? There was no reason for Toushiro to take him into the 10th for a six month training program. Except he did. What he didn't expect even more was to somehow end up dating him. (Explicit versions of chapters 3 & 4 are up on my Tumblr)
1. Chapter 1

"Hi, Shiro, nice of you to drop by," Head-captain Kyoraku grinned as Toushiro stepped into his office. Morning light brightened the room from the open balcony and the earthy smell of a pot of tea warmed his lungs.

"You called me here; we have a meeting scheduled," Toushiro grumbled. He had hoped that this would be quick; he didn't have much time to spare as it was. Not with all the re-building that was going on, and how severely understaffed the _Gotei_ Thirteen was at the moment. He had gotten up at dawn this morning to get a head-start on all his work and he still didn't feel like he was making any headway. But looking at the tea set on Kyoraku's desk he had a feeling that he would be here for a while.

"So we do. Thank you again for agreeing to help out."

Toushiro sighed softly. "Yes, it's no problem."

Kyoraku smiled knowingly, and Toushiro couldn't help but feel like Kyoraku knew otherwise. "Just don't push yourself too hard."

Toushiro refrained from rolling his eyes. He could have gotten away with it if Kyoraku was still a captain, but now his position demanded a little more respect. "I already said I would do it. Stop trying to talk me out of it."

Kyoraku chuckled deep in his chest. "Alright, Yukio should be arriving any minute now. Why don't you have a seat?" He indicated one of the two chairs that had been pulled up to his desk.

No sooner had Toushiro sat down were there footsteps on the tiles behind him. He glanced over his shoulder as the young fullbringer strode in and flashed him a toothy grin, his black coat swinging around his ankles as he walked. He was exactly as Toushiro remembered; expensive clothes, platinum blond hair that covered his right eye, and smug aura about him. He'd met Yukio before, battled him and came out victorious. It had been a shock when Kyoraku had told him that Yukio had requested to train under him. He admired the boy for his tenacity, and for aiding Kurosaki during The Thousand-Year Blood War, but he remembered how cheeky he had been. Still, if he was earnest about training then Toushiro had no reason to deny his request. Besides the Division needed the extra help, even if it was only one person. Yukio flopped into his chair, setting one knee over the other and leaning against the backrest. Toushiro grimaced and held a sign; he was already much too comfortable here, this was going to be a long six months.

"Yukio!" Kyoraku, said cheerily. "Glad you could join us today; I hope your journey here went well."

Yukio nodded, folding his arms behind his head. "Well enough, Kisuke has a lot to learn when it comes to comfort, though."

Toushiro tapped his foot impatiently. He didn't have time for small talk. He cleared his throat, hoping that the two would take the hint.

"So, Captain Hitsugaya has agreed to help you train-"

"I figured, I mean he's sitting here after all."

A very long six months.

"Right, so shall we go over the terms of our agreement?" Kyoraku opened a thin file that had been sitting on his desk and picked up a single sheet of paper. "Yukio Hans Vorarlberna, for six months, will be assigned temporarily to the Tenth Division of the _Gotei_ Thirteen. This is an exercise to investigate the compatibility between fullbringers and shinigami. For six months Mr. Hans Vorarlberna will train under Captain Toushiro Hitsugaya in the art of _hakuda_." He paused for Toushiro and Yukio to confirm. "And in return, as a temporary member of the Tenth Division, Mr. Hans Vorarlberna is to be assigned day-to-day duties typical to a permanent member of the Division." He tapped his chin with his index finger. "I think that's all, I just need the both of you to sign here." He slid the paper across the desk and held out a brush and ink pad.

"Is this like some sort of legally binding, stuff?" Yukio asked as Toushiro took the brush.

Kyoraku scratched the back of his neck and leaned back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs. "No, if either of you want out of this agreement you're free to go at any time. Nanao has just been getting on my case to be more professional and get things organised. It's best we have this in writing, in case something like this comes up in the future."

"Okay, cool." Yukio leaned forward, pulling out a pen from his jacket pocket and scrawled his name down before Toushiro was halfway through his. Yukio finished his signature with a flourish and winked at Toushiro.

Toushiro glanced wistfully at the writing utensil before Yukio clicked it and put it back into his pocket. It was going to be a very _very_ long six months.

The meeting ended up taking thirty more minutes than the time Toushiro had allotted for it. He was grinding his teeth by the time Kyoraku had given them leave. Then he had to give Yukio a quick tour of the Tenth Division, namely the key areas like the mess hall, bath house, and training yard. If he got lost or needed something else he could ask someone. But right now he was itching to get back to work, especially since he already had to stay late that night. He dragged a hand down his face as he led Yukio through the barracks.

He had ordered a spare room be prepared for the boy, once close enough to a few seated officers who would report to him if he did something out of line. He slid the door open and handed Yukio the key.

"This will be your room; there should already be uniforms and other necessities in there. If you need anything else, you can fill out a requisition form, which are available in the administrative office."

Yukio poked his head into the room examining it with a look of disdain. He had been toting a suitcase and a duffel bag, both looking expensive, and dumped them in the middle of the room. They were obviously out of place. "It's smaller than I would like," he said after inspecting the sparse room. "And a bit boring."

Toushiro clenched his jaw. The room was neat with a futon and a writing desk. There were moderately large closets for storage, and a few shelves. "You are free to decorate however you please. But I'm sure you can tell that we currently do not have the funds to spend on non-essential items."

"Yeah," he grumbled, flapping his hand dismissively. "I can see that."

Toushiro folded his arms, tucking them into his sleeves. "Once you've change and settled in, meet me in my office so that we can finalise your schedule."

"Got it. Any more orders? Like are you an actual robot?"

Toushiro narrowed his eyes. "No, that is all for now." He turned to leave.

"Wait, Toushiro-"

"Captain Hitsugaya."

"O-Kay," he drawled with a smirk. "How old are you anyway?"

"Older than you." He was sure that his eyebrow was twitching, or it could have been from how much caffeine had had that morning.

Yukio looked like he wanted to laugh, but he shook his head. "I guess I should say thank you. I actually wasn't expecting you to say yes."

Toushiro sighed softly. "You can thank me when we start to see results." He turned on his heel. "My office in ten, if you please."

Rangiku wasn't in the office when he arrived, but he was pleased to see that she had gotten through her assigned paperwork. Still, he wanted to read over it to check for errors. He brought the stack over to his desk, and drunk the last bit of tea from that morning before rechecking his agenda for that day. He was behind by almost an hour now. He gritted his teeth as he pulled the report he had been working on that morning to him, and set aside Yukio's schedule for when he arrived.

"This has to be the most uncomfortable thing I've ever worn."

Toushiro breathed out heavily, and set down his brush. "Uniforms aren't made for comfort; they're for durability and function-"

"Yeah, whatever."

Toushiro pinched the bridge of his nose. "Pull up a chair, let's get this done quickly."

It was a bit strange to see Yukio in the _shinigami_ uniform. Toushiro had to admit that the rough wool far a far cry from the soft, expensive clothes he usually wore. He also looked remarkably different without his hat.

"I've assigned you to a senior soldier, my twelfth- seat, Handa, for the rest of the day. She will show you how things are done here. Your duties shouldn't be too strenuous, but there isn't much time for leisure."

Yukio pulled a face.

"Look if you don't want to take this seriously."

"I am, I am. Can't I react to anything?"

"Every member of the Tenth is to conduct themselves with decorum at all times." He handed the schedule over and waited as Yukio examined it.

"Um, wait."

"Is there a problem?"

"The hell there is, you have our training sessions at like five am!"

Toushiro laced his fingers together and rested his chin on top of them. Five am was a bit early, but if the boy was serious about training then time wouldn't be a problem for him. And if he wanted time to train and then prepare for the day, it was necessary. "Yes."

"That's way too early!"

"It's the only time I have to spare for training."

Yukio's outrage seemed to deflate and he slumped backwards in his chair. "Fine. You really are a robot."

Toushiro clicked is tongue. "Is there anything else?"

Yukio scanned the paper again. "Nope."

"Good. No you can keep that." Toushiro said as Yukio moved to hand it back. "Wait here for Handa."

Yukio folded the paper and tucked it into his _kosode_. Toushiro watched him silently as he stood up and wandered around the office. After he determined that Yukio wouldn't cause any trouble he went back to his report. He blocked out the outside world, focusing solely on the kanji in front of him until he felt a presence by his elbow. His head snapped to the side to see Yukio looming over his shoulder.

"What-"

"Here," he slipped a pen onto the desk. "It's much quicker than writing with a brush and ink."

Toushiro raised an eyebrow. "I... uh thank you, but I cannot take this from you."

Yukio scoffed. "It's just a pen. I have like ten of them in my room."

Toushiro picked it up and clicked it open, testing it on a corner of a blank paper. If The World of the Living had anything figured out, it was efficiency. "Thank you."

"It's literally nothing."

...

Toushiro stifled a yawn as he stretched out his arms and back. The sun hadn't risen yet, but here he was in the training yard, warming up before Yukio arrived. He had gotten to bed four hours earlier and had to force himself not to drink anything with caffeine before the workout. The adrenaline rush should last until he had to go into the office. He did a few laps around the training yard, the dropped into a side lung to stretch out his legs. Yukio still wasn't there when he finished. Toushiro ground his teeth together. He hadn't arrived that early; Yukio should have been here by now.

Toushiro paced around the supply room, straightening the _bokkens_ and setting all the padded armour into a neat pile. He arranged all the sparring dummies by height then dusted the room with an old rag he found lying around. There was still no sign of Yukio when he was finished. He took a deep breath to curb his irritation, pressing his nails into his palms. What did he expect, though? The boy had no sense of courtesy from what he had seen. He had been generous enough to take time out of his day to train with him, and he had the nerve to be late. Grumbling under his breath, Toushiro stepped out of the supply room and slid the door shut. He would give Yukio five more minutes until he left.

Yukio showed up after four minutes, his hair dishevelled and yawning.

"Sorry about that, Toushiro, I slept through my alarm."

"It's Captain Hitsugaya to you," Toushiro grumbled. "That's not an excuse. I have better things to be doing with my time than waiting around for you. I expect you to be on time for our next session."

Yukio grumbled something indecipherable and Toushiro felt his eye twitch. "What was that?"

"I'm not a morning person."

"Well, you'll have to learn to be."

Yukio sighed and stretched, yawning widely, then looked expectantly at Toushiro.

"Warm up with some laps, then we'll work on some basic _katas_. Do you have any experience with martial arts?"

Yukio shook his head. The sun was barely up and Toushiro already felt the beginnings of a headache. "I thought you trained as a fullbringer."

"Yeah, but not hand-to-hand. Just normal stuff to keep up my endurance."

"Normal stuff?"

"Cardio, weights –what normal people do in the gym... I mean my fullbring doesn't require hand-to-hand combat at all. That's why I came to you."

Toushiro rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Well get warmed up then we'll start from the beginning."

They ended up ruining over time and Toushiro was almost late in getting to the office. He had made it in time by skipping breakfast, but he could always get someone to bring him some later. His work was cut out for him with Yukio, however. He had endurance, that was obvious, but he wasn't very strong physically. From what Toushiro remembered his fullbring didn't need him to be. At least he seemed to pick up things quickly.

"Good morning, Captain, I brought you some tea," Rangiku sang as she hopped into the office. He was impressed, it wasn't even eight yet and she was in the office. "Oh, Yukio isn't here?"

And there it was, the ulterior motive. "He should be with Handa."

"Oh." she set a steaming mug of green tea on his desk. "How is he?"

Toushiro shrugged. "He has potential, but I'm not sure that he's serious about this."

"If he asked us for help then he has to be serious." Rangiku cocked her head and perched herself on the edge of his desk. He took a sip of tea, smiling inwardly. Rangiku knew how to make it the way he liked. He hadn't realised that his head had been throbbing until it cleared.

"He was late for training this morning."

She stared at him, horrified. "You have him training before work? The poor thing."

"It's the only spare time I have, as you well know."

"Yeah, but don't you think that's a bit harsh?"

"No."

She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Of course you don't. Anyway, what's on the agenda for today?"

Toushiro flipped open his planner, tapping the paper with the bottom of the pen Yukio gave him. "We have to finalise the budget for rebuilding the south wall, go over the reports from the engineering and architecture teams, somehow figure out how to redistribute our living and upkeep allowance to now include food expenses, and check with the Thirteenth for their final damage report."

She huffed dramatically. "The work never ends does it?"

Toushiro scoffed. "It's going to be like this for a while."

He handed a few files over to Rangiku. "Our priority is the rebuilding budget and the Thirteenth. See if you can have this done by the end of day."

"I'll try my best, Captain." She flashed him a wide grin as she headed over to her desk.

Toushiro was nearing the end of the engineering report when his stomach growled loudly enough that Rangiku looked up from her work. She levelled him with an exasperated stare. "You skipped breakfast, didn't you?"

Toushiro sighed. "We went overtime with Yukio's training. I didn't have time to eat before coming here."

Rangiku shook her head then pushed her chair back. "I have to go to the Thirteenth anyway. I'll get someone to bring you some food." She tucked a file under her arm. "You know you don't have to keep such a rigid schedule. Sure there's a lot more work than we're used to, but you need to give yourself time to breathe."

"I assure you that I am not overworked, Matsumoto."

"Whatever you say, Captain. Just try not to skip any more meals. I don't think you have much excess weight to live off of."

His stomach growled again and Rangiku giggled as she flounced off. He shook his head and went back to work. He was startled when the door slid open; having not realised how much time had passed again.

"A little birdie told me that you skipped breakfast."

Toushiro's head snapped up when he heard Yukio's voice. He kicked the door shut with his foot while balancing a tray of tea, rice, and a bowl of soup. He set the tray down on Toushiro's desk and took a step back; craning his neck to see what he was working on.

"You could have cut our lesson short if you knew you'd be in a rush."

Toushiro sighed, picking up the chopsticks. "I didn't realise how late it had gotten." He scooped some rice into his mouth with one hand and continued to scan his work.

"I should be flattered by that."

"Don't you have work to be doing?"

"Nope, I'm on lunch break now."

"Oh, thanks for bringing this over in that case."

"Are you seriously going to work through lunch?"

"Work's not going to do itself."

"Fair enough."

Toushiro expected more needling and annoying questions, but none came, in fact there was nothing but complete silence for a while. He looked up suspiciously only to find Yukio examining the bookshelf behind him.

"Can I borrow this?" he asked once he realised that Toushiro was looking at him. He slid a thin, green book from its home on the shelf and leafed through it.

Toushiro raised an eyebrow. "You're interested in business financing?"

"I run my own company, you know."

"I did not know. Yeah, take what you want."

Yukio smirked as he snapped the book shut and tucked it under his arm. "Running the _Gotei_ Thirteen is kinda like running a business."

"I suppose it is." Toushiro set down his pen and worked out a cramp in his hand.

"If you need help with any of this stuff you can ask me."

Toushiro inclined his head. He might just take Yukio up on the offer; it would be beneficial to get help from someone experienced. He may have been late to training this morning but, if he was useful otherwise, Toushiro could forgive him.

Except Yukio was late to the next three sessions. Toushiro felt his patience wearing thin as he waited yet again for Yukio to arrive. He leaned against the supply room wall, feeling a tired ache set into his limbs. He had spent another late night at the office and he was not in the mood to be standing around wasting time.

"Do you know how to tell time?" he snapped as Yukio finally jogged up to him.

"I told you I'm not a morning person," Yukio grumbled. "I've never got up this early before in my life. Can't we have like afternoon sessions or something?"

Toushiro clenched his jaw, pushing away from the wall and folding his arms across his chest. "You could always join the group sessions in the afternoon. But if you want one-on-one lessons they this is the only time I can spare."

Yukio groaned loudly.

"I'm doing you a favour-"

"I know, I know. I shouldn't complain. But come on Toushiro,-"

"Captain Hitsugaya-"

"The sun isn't even up yet."

"This is the best time to train."

"How the fuck do you come up with that?"

"It's not as hot; we have the entire yard to ourselves." He strode past Yukio."Let's get warmed up."

They started off with a light jog around the yard. Yukio's feet thudded heavily against the earth. He insisted on wearing shoes and clothes from the Living World – sweat pants and sneakers. Though, the other day he had come dressed in some sort of tight, black pants that he had called leggings. Toushiro had been thoroughly shocked at the range of movement which they allowed him. He increased the pace; Yukio matched him with no problem.

"Have you ever done HIIT training?" Yukio asked.

"HIIT?"

"High Intensity Interval Training."

"I don't believe so. I mainly train in _zanjutsu_ with my _bankai_."

"So you don't ever just work out?"

"It's important to have control over my _reiatsu_ and _zanpakuto_. So, no, I don't see the point."

"So I guess this is a refresher course for you as well?"

Toushiro decided that they weren't running fast enough if Yukio still had breath to talk.

He walked him through a few more _katas_ , concentrating on form and allowed him to throw a few punches and kicks. He deflected them easily, of course, pleased at how much he had progressed in just four lessons.

"Use the momentum to power your kick, or you're going to end up pulling something." He had brought out a training dummy and was watching Yukio go through a series of kicks. "And don't, for the love of the Soul King, point your toe." He rushed in to prevent Yukio from breaking a phalange, catching him by the ankle before he could make contact.

Yukio smiled sheepishly as Toushiro let go of him and he lowered his leg back to the ground. "Sorry."

Toushiro shook his head. "Watch." He raised his leg at the knee. "Most of the power comes from the momentum here." He patted his knee. He positioned himself near the dummy and went through the motions as slowly as he could. "Like this. Keep your foot flat." He rested his foot against the dummy. "You can break a toe otherwise." He brought his leg back to the ground. "Once you get the form right, you can do all sorts of variations." He demonstrated a basic side kick; his foot met the dummy with a heavy thud and dust fell from the straw. Then a front kick, a round-house, and then he ended with a high kick, freezing with his foot in the air.

"Ha, you almost did a split there. Don't think I can do that one." Yukio scoffed, shaking his head, "but yeah, I get it."

"Try again. Let me see." He took a few steps back.

Yukio corrected his form in a matter of seconds and Toushiro nodded in approval.

"Can you do an actual split?" he asked.

"I suppose. Flexibility is important."

He scoffed again.

...

"One hand always guards while the other attacks." He instructed, poking Yukio's fists until he held his arms in the proper position. "Your enemy can always doge and you have to be prepared for follow-ups. When you punch," he took one of Yukio's fists, pulling it towards him while he slowly swung his other arm towards Yukio's face, "I can do this. But," he moved to Yukio's other hand and grasped his wrist to pull his arm higher, blocking the path that his other hand was taking. He gently pressed his fist to Yukio's forearm. "You can block, like this."

"Your hands are tiny," Yukio chuckled.

"Concentrate."

Yukio could now be considered a novice in _hakuda_. Toushiro barely had to correct his form by the third week. And with sessions every other day he was progressing very quickly. He still wasn't skilled enough for a real partner but he could do a number to a training dummy, and that was without using any _reiatsu_. He delivered a swift uppercut to the dummy followed by a few jabs and grinned when he ended the attack with a side kick. Toushiro nodded in approval.

"This is kinda cool," Yukio admitted, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

"You're doing well," Toushiro admitted. "I think in a week or two you should be comfortable enough with the moves to spar with me."

Yukio's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Of course I'll have to hold back."

He rolled his eyes. "Ha ha ha. Are you sure you can even fight without using _reiatsu_? You're skinny as fuck."

"Don't worry about me." Toushiro tucked his hands into his sleeves. "Go cool down, and let's call it a day."

Toushiro watched him bound off. His stamina was impressive – yet to show any signs of exhaustion during any of their two-hour sessions. He did a sort of jump, causing his so-called 'basketball shorts' to slip down his hips. He looked over his shoulder to Toushiro and stuck out his tongue as he yanked them back up. The boy was nothing if not amusing, Toushiro thought, shaking his head.

...

"Hey."

Something was poking his shoulder. Toushiro grumbled, shrugging. It wasn't time to wake up yet.

"Hey, Toushiro."

The poking continued, until Toushiro's tired mind woke. He slowly sat up, looking around in confusion. He rubbed his eyes with one hand while stretching the other and yawned. The back of his head met the high back of a chair; this wasn't his room.

"I'm not gonna lie, that was the cutest thing I've seen in like forever."

Yukio. Damn it all; he had fallen asleep in the office again. He slumped in his chair; his mind told him to wake up, but his body refused to respond. Maybe if he closed his eyes for a few seconds he would feel better.

"Hey, Toushiro, come on." Yukio was holding his shoulder, stopping him from falling forward onto his desk. "You're so out of it. Come on, wake up."

Toushiro grumbled, feeling as if he was moving through sludge. "'M up."

Yukio snickered. "When was the last time you got any sleep? You're literally a zombie right now."

Toushiro yawned again, and screwed his eyes shut, before blinking a few times. "What time is it?"

"Around one."

Toushiro swore.

"You really should go to bed."

"Yeah... what are you doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep; came here to get another book."

Toushiro blinked a few more times, feeling his body sway even as he sat.

"Okay, time for bed. Come on."

"Have to finish... report."

"You can't even make a full sentence."

"I'll take a nap."

The next thing he knew, Yukio had an arm around his shoulders and had hoisted him from his chair.

"Wha-"

"Chill, I'm only bringing you to the couch."

Toushiro's body collapsed on the not-so-soft office couch. His eyes closed and were suddenly too heavy to open. He was aware of a warm body sitting down next to him, but he fell asleep before he could think much more of it. His body was like clockwork, however, and after what felt like no time at all he was waking up again. The sun wasn't up yet, but he could make out the shape of darkened furniture. And his head was pillowed in a lap. His entire body tensed enough that he was sure he pulled multiple muscles. Yukio's breathing was soft and even, but Toushiro wasn't sure if moving would wake him. Had he fallen into Yukio's lap while he slept? Or had the boy taken pity on him using the sad excuse of a couch for a bed. Either way, it was time to get up – was that a hand on his waist? He felt his eyes widen and he became uncomfortably aware of his breathing. How the hand on his waist rose up and down with each breath and how hot it was. In fact, every place that Yukio was touching him felt like it was on fire. He swallowed, never before had he been aware just how much his body moved or how much noise it made for that little action.

Yukio groaned and Toushiro held his breath.

"Fuck, is it time to get up already?" his voice was rough with sleep. The hand on his waist moved up his ribs, fingers trailing against his skin as Yukio brought it up to cover a yawn. Toushiro instantly missed the warmth it had brought and now his skin felt oddly cold.

"Tou-"

He sprung upright. Now that Yukio was awake lying in his lap was inexcusable. "Yes," he said, a bit more snappish than he had intended. He sat back on his knees, feeling his cheeks flush. Yukio yawned widely, covering his mouth with one hand and mussing his hair with the other.

"Do we have to train today?"

"It's your off day."

Yukio blinked slowly then turned his head to stare at Toushiro. "So why the fuck are we up this early?"

"You need to get back to your room."

Yukio grumbled then flopped sideways onto the couch. "Nah, I'm good here."

"Yukio-"

"Work isn't like for another three hours."

"You can't stay here."

There was no response. Toushiro narrowed his eyes; there was no way he could have fallen asleep that fast. He shook his head; he would let him sleep for now – he probably wasn't used to running on minimum sleep. Even though, Toushiro had rested for around five or four hours, he still felt a little sluggish. That would wear off soon, however. He slid off the couch and headed back over to his desk, turning on the small reading lamp rather than the overhead light. His work from last night was a bit messier than he would have liked. The sloppy _kanji_ had him clicking his tongue, but at least the budget proposal was done two days ahead of time. He tapped the papers into a neat stack and set them aside, accidentally bumping a mug on the edge of his desk. Liquid sloshed inside of it and he frowned; the cup was full. He didn't remember making himself any tea before he fell asleep and that wasn't one of his personal cups, but a generic one from the mess hall. He glanced to the couch, frowning slightly. Had Yukio brought him tea last night? He had said something about a book, but... he would ask him about it when he woke up.

He turned back to his paperwork with a soft sigh. This wouldn't be happening to him again; he could not afford to fall asleep at his desk. He needed to be more careful; maybe reorganising his schedule would help.

...

"And what kind of pants are those today?" Toushiro asked as Yukio warmed up with some stretches. They were looser than leggings, but seemed to be made of the same material as his basketball shorts.

"Track pants," Yukio answered smiling.

Toushiro shook his head. "You humans and your clothes."

"I'll get you a pair."

"No thank you."

"You'll be cute in them."

Toushiro raised an eyebrow. "Do not call me cute. Are you done stretching? We're going on a run today."

Yukio cocked his head. "A run? Why? It's not like I need to work on my endurance."

"I know, thought we could use a change of scenery. And since you're actually on time today, we have a bit more time than usual."

They started with a slow jog until they reached the wall leading into _Rukongai_. Yukio's face read unabashed awe as Jadinbo let them pass, and he stared to the endless horizon of _Junrinan_. They had a long jog to the place he had in mind, but he was positive that Yukio could make it easily. He had shown that he could keep with Toushiro's _shunpo_ , so speed wasn't necessarily the problem. The sun started to rise as they were ascending a mountain path and Yukio gasped in excitement. The yellow rays peaked above the horizon in the distance, sending long shadows across rice fields and small cottages. It filtered through the trees lining the path bringing hints of warmth with it.

"Toushiro, look," he exclaimed, bouncing like a child.

Toushiro found himself grinning. "You've never seen the sun rise before?"

"Not like this. And _no_ I'm usually sleeping, like a normal person would be at this time."

"Well, you've been missing out."

Yukio was silent for a few beats, the only sound coming from their footsteps. "I guesso. That does not mean I'm gonna get up any earlier than I have to."

Tousihro shook his head and jumped into a _shunpo_ that had Yukio scrambling to keep up.

"Where are we going by the way?"

"You'll see. Just enjoy the scenery."

Yukio fell into silence for a bit. "There are only like so many trees and rocks a person can enjoy."

Toushiro rolled his eyes. Now that Yukio had started talking, and he had replied, he wasn't going to stop. "Yukio?"

"Hmm?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you about yesterday. How I conducted myself was not appropriate of a captain-"

"Oh shut up."

"Excuse you?"

"If you're talking about us sleeping on the couch, I literally couldn't care less."

"It was inappropriate."

"And? You were tired. It's no big deal."

Toushiro eyed him from the corner of his eyes. It could have been from exertion but his cheeks looked a bit redder than usual.

"Why were you in my office anyway?"

"I wanted a new book-"

"That's what you said; now tell me the real reason."

"Ugh, fine. Rangiku said you might be in the office all night so, I came to check on you."

Toushiro frowned. His entire squad knew that he sometimes spent all night in the office. He jumped to the top of a tall bolder as the path gave way to a rocky decline of a dried up river bed. "Why?"

Yukio shrugged and followed. "Because you're doing so much by helping me out the least I could do was bring you some tea."

Toushiro glanced at him from over his shoulder. His cheeks were definitely redder. "Thank you, in that case."

He could hear the sound of running water now and he picked up the pace once more. They sprinted the last few minutes and stopped in front of a waterfall. There was a small pool, surrounded by smooth rocks and enclosed by trees. He had come here a few times before for privacy, but it was also a good place to train. The rocks provided a decent obstacle course, while there was enough flat ground to move around.

Yukio was breathing a bit heavily when Toushiro turned to him.

"We'll do some _katas_ , then I want to try you with a sparring session."

His eyes widened, and he somehow managed to look shocked and excited at the same time. His form was flawless as he went through the stances. He made it seem like he had been practicing for a year rather than just one month. His movements were precise and elegant, each muscle controlled, balance impeccable. His body was lithe, pulled taught, and the pants hugged the muscles of his thighs, pulling tight across his hips as he widened his stance. He spun, giving him an eyeful of his ass, and Toushiro reeled, shaking his head and coughing. What the hell was he doing? He was supposed to be critiquing his form not his body. Yukio was smirking when Toushiro met his gaze and he felt his face heat.

"That's enough," he coughed.

Yukio chuckled, his eyes sparkling in mirth. "Were you checking me out?"

Toushiro's jaw dropped, but he liked to think that he recovered quickly enough that Yukio didn't notice. "I was concentrating on your form."

"Suure."

Toushiro rolled his eyes, turning away. "Your goal is to land a hit."

"Just one?"

"Feeling confident are we?"

"I mean, you were just eyeballing my ass."

"I was not."

"And you're blushing!"

"I am not."

"You're so effing cute!"

Toushiro was stunned for a moment. Paired with Yukio's impossibly wide smile, being called cute didn't feel like an insult. "We'll see how cute I am when I beat you."

...

"Um Toushiro?"

Toushiro sighed setting down his pen and looking over to Rangiku's desk. Yukio had managed to shuffle around his duties, trading off with a few _shinigami_ , in order for him to be placed on office duty. Rangiku was at the Thirteenth, so he had no problems in him using her desk.

"What is it?"

"There's a math error in this."

Toushiro swore, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "What are you working on?"

"Uh," he flipped to the first page of the report, "the South Wall Budget Proposal?"

Toushiro was out of his seat and had crossed the room in a matter of seconds. He felt all the blood drain from his face, and his heart began to thud in dread as his armpits prickled with sweat. "That's not possible."

"Sorry, but it is." He pointed to a chart of numbers. "Look, the decimal place is off. And besides, the cost of labour doesn't factor into the total, here."

Toushiro held his breath as he watched Yukio's finger point to the numbers. It felt as though someone had poked a hole in his side and air was slowly leaking out. He felt like he couldn't breathe and he had to hold the corner of the desk for support. Kyoraku would think that he was trying to cheat his men. How could he have possibly made such a mistake?

"Hey, it's okay. We can fix this no problem. When is it due?"

"By end of day today," Toushiro breathed.

Yukio hissed. "That's tight, but we can do it."

Toushiro was chewing the inside of his cheek. If that was wrong then that meant the report he was working on now had the same error. He shut his eyes, of course things were going too well; something had to go wrong.

"Hey, why don't you sit down for a bit?"

Toushiro nodded and allowed Yukio to lead him to the couch. "We can do this." He set a hand on Toushiro's shoulder. "I catch problems like this at my company all the time. It's no big deal. We just have to go through this one and re-do the math. It wasn't off by much, so the end result shouldn't be that different."

Toushiro nodded but he still felt sick. This was all his fault and if Yukio hadn't caught it-

"Actually," he eyed Toushiro's face. "Let's take a tea break, calm down then get started on this."

"There's no time for a break, especially not now." Toushiro attempted to get up from the couch, but Yukio's grip on his shoulder tightened.

"Well, you wouldn't have made this mistake if you weren't trying to pull an all-nighter."

Toushiro chewed the inside of his cheek.

"Why? I mean you're like ahead of schedule, why are you pushing yourself so hard."

"I don't like things piling up. It's easier when I can plan ahead." Also, he needed to work harder, and do twice as much work to seem just as competent as the other captains. Even as the thought crossed his mind he knew it was a lie. That may have been the truth before Ichigo Kurosaki and Aizen, before the Thousand Year Blood War, but now so much had changed. The only captain who was on his back was Kurotsuchi. But, still he couldn't let himself slack off, just the thought made him feel queasy.

Yukio narrowed his eyes slightly. "Okay, well take this from someone who successfully runs a multimillion dollar company. You have time. Now let's go get some tea."

Yukio grabbed his wrist and dashed from the office. Toushiro nearly stumbled at the sudden acceleration. He stared at the boy's back, it might have just been his imagination, but it seemed like his shoulders were a bit broader. It had only been a month of training, but with two hour sessions every other day, he was bound to start bulking up. Toushiro bit his bottom lip. He'd been training for almost sixty years and he hadn't bulked up one bit. If anything he had lost weight recently. He wasn't jealous; they just had different body types, and Yukio was still living. He shook his head and caught himself on the doorframe.

"Where are we going?"

"The mess hall?"

"There's a private kitchen for the seated officers. Let's go there instead. Quieter."

"Oh, I didn't know that. Are you too good for us peasants?"

"No-"

"Just kidding. Lead the way." He was grinning widely even after he let go of Toushiro's wrist leaving it aflame. Toushiro rubbed the patch of skin, wondering just when Yukio had managed to work him up like that.

The kitchen was really a small break room, with a stove top, a few snacks, and a couple couches and tables. The only reason Toushiro visited here was for the wide selection of teas. He wasn't the only tea lover in the division and so the tea cupboard was always fully stocked.

"What do you want to drink?" he asked.

Yukio flopped onto one of the couches under a window. "I'll take whatever you're having. Sugar no milk."

Toushiro rolled his eyes at how easily he dished out requests. Just who was supposed to be the commanding officer? He poured water into the kettle and set it to boil then opened the pantry to choose the tea. He tilted his head; he probably should drink something calming if he needed to get through the budget proposal, but then he needed the energy as well. His eyes settled on a tin of jasmine blend but it was a bit too high up for him to reach even if he tiptoed. As he was stretching he felt a firm chest against his back and a hand brushed against his, grabbing the tin. Toushiro nearly crawled into the pantry trying to escape. He banged his hip on one of the shelves and spun around with his cheeks on fire.

"Sorry," Yukio didn't seem the least bit sorry. "Thought you could use some help."

"I..." Yukio handed him the tin. "Thank you." But he couldn't let him off that easy. "Nevertheless, you don't have to flaunt your height at every chance you get. I can do it myself next time."

Something fluttered in his chest as Yukio smiled at him and were his eyes always that green? How had he not noticed that before? He cleared his throat and turned around to get the tea ready.

"I'm not even tall, though."

That was true, but everyone was tall compared to Toushiro. He spooned three spoons into a tea pot and took out two cups as he waited for the kettle to boil.

"Why are you so determined to help me?"

"What?"

"Just now, the paperwork today. This isn't part of your duties." He stared at the kettle as steam started to rise from the spout.

"I dunno." He could hear Yukio shrug. "Do I need a reason?"

Toushiro turned around and huffed. "We already have an even trade with you helping out my squad in return for me training you. You don't need to do any more, so why are you?"

Yukio cocked his head. "I'm trying to turn over a new leaf."

"What does that mean?"

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing," he flopped back down onto the couch. "I'm not happy with who I am, or was. I want to become a better person. We have to start small, right?"

The kettle was boiling now; Toushiro picked it up and poured the water into the tea pot. "I suppose. So am I a charity case to you?" He brought the tea pot and the two cups over to the coffee table in front of Yukio's couch then went back to the pantry to retrieve a bowl of sugar.

"No," he huffed. "I think you're the one doing charity. Why did you even agree to this when you have so much on your plate?"

Toushiro set the sugar down in front of Yukio and sat down next to him. "Because if you have the humbleness to ask the person who defeat you for help, then I have no reason to deny your request. You proved your sincerity simply by asking. I know how that feels. Although, you made me question your seriousness when you repeatedly came to training late."

Yukio snickered. "Well we both know the reason for that."

"You being lazy."

"No, me being a normal human being."

Toushiro scoffed as he leaned over the coffee table to pour out the tea. "You are far from normal." He took a cup for himself, blowing the steam gently, as Yukio scooped sugar into his. He hadn't even taken a sip yet, but Yukio had been right, taking a break was helping.

When they got back to the office, Toushiro didn't feel as overwhelmed. Yukio said that he could handle the corrections, but Toushiro still wanted to go over everything when he was done. They finished in the nick of time, and Toushiro was able to send a courier to the first division before the end of the work day. He hadn't expected Yukio to be that big of a help, but he had re-done the maths, checked through all the calculations and re-wrote the proposal. Toushiro had been able to work on other reports that would have otherwise been backed-up if he had had to re-do the proposal himself. Rangiku had even acknowledged how helpful he was when she returned from the Thirteenth. She had kicked him off her desk though, but he seemed happier to work lying on his stomach on the couch, feet swinging in the air. It was only after leaving the office at a normal time that day did he realise how suspiciously quiet Rangiku had been. She was scheming.

His point was proved when she slung an arm around his neck and pulled him into her side.

"Yukio! Captain and I were going to get some dinner, if you wanna join us."

Toushiro raised an eyebrow, pushing himself out of Rangiku's embrace. "Matsumoto-"

"Nah," Yukio answered eyeing Toushiro with a smirk. He felt something in his stomach flutter. "I have to work on my fullbring. I've been putting it off for the past few days. Thanks for the offer, though."

"You've been working on your fullbring?" Toushiro asked, distancing himself from Rangiku and giving her a warning glare.

"Yup, in my spare time and after work. Don't wanna get rusty."

He hummed. He had thought that it was strange that he hadn't seen Yukio glued to that game console of his. He hadn't suspected that he would divide his time between physical training and his fullbring. The boy just kept on surprising him. "Well, I will see you tomorrow in that case." He said as he turned to head home.

"We'll take a rain check on dinner!" Rangiku chirped as she bounded after him.

Yukio waved goodbye and headed off in the opposite direction.

"So, Captain-"

"I'm not going out to dinner with you."

"I think someone has a crush on you."

Toushiro sighed softly as something stirred in his gut. He was too tired to have this conversation now, and besides he knew for a fact that Yukio was just being nice. He was simply grateful that Toushiro had agreed to train him; there was nothing more to it.

...

Yukio was late again. Toushiro scuffed his shoe against the ground, leaving a shallow line in the dirt. He had thought that they were past this by now. His stomach formed a knot as he waited. He was disappointed, yes, but a part of him wondered if there was something he had done to upset him. They were wrapping up the sixth week of training and while Toushiro was pleased with Yukio's progress, the boy seemed to be getting antsy. He had noticed it a few lessons ago, when his form had started to get a little sloppy. He had corrected it when Toushiro had pointed it out, but the slip wasn't normal for him. But other than that Yukio seemed fine; he had been going about his other duties without a problem, although, Toushiro had been seeing less of him this past week. He huffed and sat down on the raised patio that ran around the yard. Maybe it _was_ something he had said, or done. He had thanked him for helping with the paperwork, maybe it hadn't been enough and Yukio thought that he was selfish or rude. His breath snagged in his chest. What if that had been the final straw and he wasn't going to come to practice today –

"Hey Toushiro,"

His head snapped to the entrance as Yukio sauntered in with his hands shoved in his pockets. Toushiro nearly jumped to his feet in relief and had to remind himself to remain calm.

"You're late."

He shrugged. "The sky is blue, grass is green, I have blond hair – what else is obvious?"

Toushiro narrowed his eyes, feeling the knot in his stomach tighten. He took in Yukio's slouched posture, his hands shoved into his pockets, and his frown. He really didn't want to be here.

"Why?"

"I overslept. Anyway, let's get this over with."

He strode to the centre of the yard stretching his arms over his head. Toushiro slowly followed.

"What's the matter? You seem..."

Yukio swore under his breath. "Great, even you can tell. Good to know you can understand what feelings are."

Toushiro jerked back at the insult. He'd been called worse, so why was his chest clenching? He folded his arms across his chest, tucking his hands into his sleeves. "I apologise. Whatever wrong I have done you-"

"It's not you," Yukio snapped.

"Then?" Toushiro ventured a step forward.

"I was sparring with some guys yesterday. They kicked my ass. These ancient bags of actual trash knocked me flat on my ass. "

"Oh-"

"Oh? I've been training for what, a month and half now and I have next to nothing to show for it! I'm just wasting my time!"

"You've improved greatly in that time. A month isn't that long to begin with-"

"To you maybe. I'm here for six months and if I progress at the rate I am now, there's no way I'll be good enough by the end of it."

Toushiro frowned. "Just what exactly are you trying to prove? That you're not weak? Because you aren't. Some _shinigami_ have been training for decades, centuries even. Unless you dedicate your entire life to _hakuda_ and nothing else you won't catch up to them." Yukio looked like he was going to argue but Toushiro held up a hand to stop him. "I cannot turn you into a master in six months, but I can give you a solid base to improve on, on your own, at your own pace. Besides, you've already come very far."

"Are you just flattering me?"

Toushiro shook his head. "No. If you weren't improving I would tell you."

Yukio shook his head. "I don't see it, but I'll believe you."

"And next time maybe don't challenge my men to a _hakuda_ match? If you want to show off, I would suggest using your fullbring."

"I'm allowed to?"

Toushiro cocked his head, failing to hide a slight smirk. "Some of them need to be taken down a few pegs."

Yukio grinned, standing up straight. "What are we doing today?"

"I thought we would try sparring again." They hadn't sparred together since Toushiro had beaten him with one hand behind his back at the waterfall. "Warm up first."

Yukio grumbled, but did a few laps around the yard before Toushiro gave him a list of exercises to go through. Soon they stood face-to-face in the centre of the courtyard.

"Same rules as the last time. Try to land a clean hit," Toushiro instructed, raising his hands in defence.

Yukio wasted no time in jumping in with a volley of well aimed punches. Toushiro avoided them with ease, of course, but he was pleased at Yukio's enthusiasm and speed. He might actually have to try to hold him off within the next few months. He sidestepped a kick to the ribs, catching Yukio's ankle and pushing him back a few steps. Yukio was back on the offensive within milliseconds. He nearly landed a punch to Toushiro's shoulder, but he spun away at the last second, causing him to groan in frustration. Toushiro scoffed. Their next few lessons would be teaching him how to incorporate _reiatsu_ to increase strength and speed. Without going overboard, of course. Yukio definitely had the potential to go overboard. He would wear himself out in a matter of minutes in that case. He'd been unwittingly using his _reiatsu_ to increase in endurance, so Toushiro was confident that he would have no problem in channelling the energy to power his punches and kicks. An uppercut that landed too close for comfort brought Toushiro's mind back to the match. He stepped back increasing the distance between them, when he saw Yukio smirk; that punch had made him get cocky. Toushiro shook his head, if that's how Yukio wanted to play. He added a little bit of _reiatsu_ to increase his speed, spinning away before Yukio could even react.

"Hey! No fair!"

"Don't get cocky."

Yukio rolled his eyes and dove back in, pure determination like fire in his eyes. Toushiro's stomach fluttered as the green gaze bore into him. Yukio had tied his hair back today; it was kind of odd being able to see both his eyes. But the length of his hair meant that the shorter locks had escaped from the tie and were sticking to his neck and forehead. Toushiro found that he liked the look. He coughed, shaking away the thought with a jerk of his head.

"What?"

"It's nothing. Concentrate on your footwork."

Yukio spared a glance at his feet, before jumping closer and trying a round-house kick. The match went on for a few more minutes. Yukio came no closer in landing a hit and Toushiro was about to call a break, when he felt one of the straps on his _waraji_ slide after he stepped on an uneven patch of earth. That particular pair was in need of mending; he had forgotten about it when he had got dressed this morning. He hadn't realised that Yukio would have noticed that the tiny detail was off, but it was either a stroke of luck or actual perception that had him aiming a kick which had Toushiro jumping on one leg and twisting to the side. The strap snapped, his ankle rolled, and his momentum had him losing balance. Yukio's eyes widened almost comically and he reached, in a pathetic attempt, to stop Toushiro from what looked to be a nasty fall.

He could have prevented the fall himself but, with the sudden and unexpected weight of Yukio hanging on to him, he fell backwards, bringing the boy down with him. Yukio's elbow narrowly avoided impaling his ribs as they landed chest to chest. Toushiro was utterly winded, lucky that he hadn't hit his head.

They were both silent for a few moments, before Yukio started snickering. Toushiro held his breath. He could feel almost every inch of Yukio's body shaking in laughter. He prayed that he wasn't blushing.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine. You?"

"Yeah, What happened?"

"My _waraji_ broke."

"Seriously? I actually thought that I had you."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, you broke my fall. Thanks for that."

Toushiro scoffed, "happy to help."

"Didn't realise how skinny you are, though. You're literally just bones."

"Get off of me."

Still chuckling, Yukio lifted some of his weight off. Toushiro wasn't expecting him to press his fingertips into his ribs. He squirmed, feeling his entire body get hot.

"I mean, I can basically count your ribs."

"Get off of-"the command turned into a strangled squeal when Yukio's hand travelled lower to poke his hipbone, before he pressed his palm flat against his stomach and pushed himself onto his knees. Toushiro didn't know how to react. He knew his face was red, he could feel the heat rising from his cheeks and ears and his heart was pounding. He watched, mouth agape, as Yukio settled between his legs, folding his knees underneath him.

"You are literally the cutest thing I've ever seen."

Toushiro still couldn't find his voice, even as Yukio grabbed his wrist and pulled him upright. He was now sitting with his legs spread wide and Yukio kneeling in-between them. He didn't know what to do about it.

"So, like I know this is forward of me," he began. "but, ugh I can't believe I'm actually doing this." His cheeks had taken on a dark tinge. "I like you and uh, do you wanna go out – for some coffee or something. Or like tea?"

Toushiro's brain short-circuited. "What?"

Yukio back peddled, jumping to his feet. "You don't have to answer like right now, but I've been wanting to ask you for a while."

Toushiro looked up at him, still not fully comprehending what was going on. "You-you like me?"

Yukio shoved his hands back into his pockets. "Yeah. Anyway, we should be getting ready for work now. You can give me an answer whenever."

Before Toushiro had blinked Yukio was running away.

...

He thought that Yukio had been avoiding him before, but now he was avoiding Yukio. Rangiku had been right, Yukio did like him and, if he understood correctly, he had for a while. He would go to her for advice, but he didn't want to endure the teasing that was sure to follow. The question was, did he like Yukio back?

He realised that he had been staring at the same line of _kanji_ for the past fifteen minutes and still hadn't read it. He grumbled, pushing the report to the side and dragged a hand down his face.

"What's the matter, Captain?" Rangiku asked from her desk.

"Nothing."

"You sure? You've been distracted all morning."

"I'm fine."

"Is it something to do with Yukio?"

He stood up suddenly, his chair legs screeching as he pushed back from his desk. "I'm going to make some tea. Do you want anything?"

She smiled. "No thank you, Captain."

His palms felt clammy as he strode to the break room, looking around corners for any sight of the boy. He felt a bit guilty for avoiding him, but he didn't know what to say, not yet at least. Once he determined that the break room was safe he slipped in, and shut the door behind him. Did he like Yukio? He knew that simply asking had required a lot of courage on his part. In the short time that he had gotten to know him, Yukio was nothing if not courageous. There was also no denying that he was kind, thoughtful, and had gone out of his way to help him out whenever he could. He sat down on one of the couched and rested his elbows on his knees. He had no problems with Yukio, he was a bit brash sometimes and his sarcasm could kill a person. He was amusing, he had made him smile on a few occasions, and even laugh once or twice. But did he like him?

He had stared at him on occasion, Yukio was an attractive person. And if he did like him that would explain how he had felt whenever he touched him or why he had been so worried that he had upset him. Now that he thought back, to all Yukio's comments on him being cute, he felt himself flush. So that truly hadn't been teasing. He was relieved. In all honesty, he thought that Yukio's determination was admirable. His endurance was nothing to poke fun of, his downplayed intelligence had been a pleasant surprise, and his sincerity in his training was what had changed Toushiro's first impression of him. He was quick to learn, and took criticism well. He had thought him lazy, spoiled, and annoying, but that had turned out to be the exact opposite. He had many qualities that made him a likeable person. Toushiro screwed his eyes shut; when he said it like that Yukio was perfect. His only flaw being his inability to be on time. He took a deep breath through his nose. Maybe he did like Yukio a bit. How was he supposed to know; he hadn't liked anyone before. He had nothing to compare it to. Maybe he should have asked Rangiku after all. He had no idea what he was doing. He couldn't jump head-first into this. He needed to think about it more.

The sparring session from that morning suddenly replayed in his mind. The fall, and Yukio's chest pressed against his. He felt light headed, suddenly and realised that sometime during the memory his heart rate had sped up. It would not do spending any more time on this dilemma, especially not like this. Yukio had said that he didn't need an answer right away. He could sleep on it; they didn't have training tomorrow morning anyway, so he should have a definitive answer for Yukio by their next session.

Ideally, that was what would have happened. However, when he got to work the next day, his pen wasn't working. He grunted in annoyance as he scribbled on the corner of a page; the ink must have run out. He clicked his tongue as he dug through one of his drawers for a brush an ink pad, internally lamenting how much longer it would take to write. As he was in the middle of pouring out some ink, he noticed that Ranigku was staring at him with a dangerous smile on her face.

"Matsumoto-"

She leapt from her desk and scrambled to the door. "YukiohasmorepensI'mgoingtofindhimsohecangetyouanotherone!"

She was gone before he could stop her and he was left with his stomach twisting in nervousness.

There was a knock on the door less than twenty minutes later. Toushiro held his breath as he gave permission to enter. Yukio seemed to be a bit more sedate than usual as he entered. He was slouching again.

"Hey, Rangiku said the pen I gave you stopped working."

Toushiro nodded, unwilling to trust his voice at the moment.

"I brought you two this time." He set them on the desk. "Just in case."

"Th-thank you."

"No problem. They're just pens." He was chewing the inside of his cheek.

Toushiro felt his heart thudding in his ears. He hadn't felt this nervous since he had taken his captain's exam. He felt queasy, and sweat was forming under his arms, and he had to use the bathroom.

Yukio turned to leave. "Well I guess-"

"Yukio," he blurted. The boy looked over his shoulder, his eyebrows raised in inquiry. "Yes." Every bit of air left his body in a rush. He wanted to crawl under his desk and hide, but settled for gripping the armrests of his chair with white knuckles.

"Yes?" There was a hopeful tinge to the question.

"I..." Toushiro swallowed and forced himself to breathe. "Let's... let's go out for c-coffee, or something."

Yukio's smile was so broad that his eyes were squinted. Toushiro once again felt breathless.

"Yeah, let's."

* * *

 **This fic was suggested by LethanWolf. It kinda ran away from me here. Nearly 11k words and still going :/**

 **I'm planning for a 2-shot, but if the other chapter runs longer than this it might be 3. What do you guys think?**

 **-Mymomomo**


	2. Chapter 2

It was odd seeing Yukio in this new light – as a romantic prospect. Toushiro's stomach was rolling over itself in anxiety as he thought about it. He had agreed to give him a chance, and if he was honest with himself, he did not dislike the boy. That was putting it lightly, in fact, he rather liked him. Yukio was amusing, intelligent, and attractive; slender, but his shoulders had definitely gotten broader with training. He was leaning forward; one elbow perched on the table as they waited for their drinks. His hair fell to the side as he tilted his head, allowing Toushiro to see both eyes. Such green eyes. Toushiro looked away, eyes darting to his lap then to the set of chopsticks to his right. He took great care in straightening them.

"You okay?" Yukio asked.

Toushiro's eyes snapped back up to him. "Yeah. Fine." His throat felt tight.

"You're literally on the edge of your set, though." Yukio wrinkled his nose.

Toushiro took a deep breath then slid back in his chair. "Better?"

Yukio scoffed softly. "This would be the part where we both take out our phones and pretend to text."

"What do you mean?"

"It's what people do when things are awkward."

"You think... this is awkward?"

He scoffed again. "I don't know how to start a conversation."

"We're talking now."

Yukio gave him a lopsided smile. "I guesso."

Toushiro's stomach fluttered slightly and he looked around just in time to see a waitress come with their order. She smiled at them as she set down two steaming cups and a plate of assorted desserts on the table between them.

"What did you get?" Yukio asked eying Toushiro's cup.

"Uh, just plain green." There had been so many options to choose from. There were fruit and floral infused blends, rare teas he had never heard of, and even a selection of English and Indian options. In the end he had stuck with what he knew; the regular green tea. "What about you."

"Lavender Jasmine."

"That sounds good."

"I'll tell you if it is. I can't believe that there isn't a single coffee shop in the whole of the _Seireitei_."

"I think coffee is a bit too modern for us." It was a nice tea house, though a bit too pricey for his liking.

"But it's like coffee. It's everywhere."

"Not here."

Yukio shook his head as he stirred a spoonful of sugar into his tea. "I'm so glad I brought my espresso machine with me."

Toushiro tilted his head. "Espresso?"

Yukio's eyes widened and his mouth dropped. "You don't know what espresso is?"

Toushiro shook his head. Was he supposed to?

"It's like really amazing coffee, really strong too."

"Oh."

"I can bring some for you."

"That would be... thank you."

Yukio smiled and took a sip of his tea. Toushiro watched as the mug hid the bottom half of his face.

"That's good," he said. "You wanna try?"

He pushed his cup towards Toushiro. He watched at the liquid sloshed as it slid across the table and was hesitant to pick up the cup. Yukio smiled and nodded, urging him on. He swallowed as he picked up Yukio's cup. It smelled heavenly; with floral tones and warm earthiness. He took a small sip; it was sweet from the sugar Yukio had added, but aside for that it was extremely pleasant. He glanced at his own cup, the light jasmine was better suited to their evening outing, than the tangy, smokiness of the green. Maybe Yukio did know a thing or two about tea. Yukio was grinning when he set the cup back down.

"I'll get you a cup."

"No, I have this." He picked up the green tea.

Yukio scoffed and called the waitress over. Toushiro felt his face turn red as he ordered a second cup of jasmine.

"You didn't have to do that," he mumbled as she left. "I was fine with this tea."

"I don't want you to be just fine. We're on a date; I want you to have like the best time ever tonight."

His face couldn't get any redder. He stared at his lap, unsure of what to say. He wanted to have a good time too. He wanted to give Yukio an honest chance, and a not-so-small part of him wanted things to work out between them.

"Can I ask you a question?" Yukio broke the silence.

Toushiro looked up nervously. Was Yukio about to test him? Something caught in his throat, and he felt sweat form on the back of his neck. He hadn't know that there was going to be a test-

"What's your favourite colour?"

Toushiro frowned slightly, not believing what he had heard. "My favourite..."

"Colour. I mean, a first date is like just to get to know each other. I have some serious questions that could make or break us."

Toushiro's breath left him in an amused woosh. He chuckled softly. "Starting with my favourite colour?"

Yukio nodded firmly.

The corner of Toushiro's mouth twitched upwards. "I like green. You?"

"Black. Dogs or cats?"

"Um... I don't mind either."

"I'm a cat person. Favourite type of movie?"

Toushiro chewed the inside of his cheek. "I haven't..."

"We're fixing that a-sap. Okay, book genre?"

"Hmmm, I like fantasy, horror, history..."

"Perfect! I love horror. Do you like spicy food?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't like hot things."

"Hmmm, we'll butt heads on that."

Toushiro chuckled, shaking his head. This boy could be ridiculous. He watched as Yukio's eyes sparkled as he came up with the silliest questions Toushiro had ever heard. 'Waffles or pancakes? Ice cream or cake? Did he wet his toothbrush before or after the toothpaste?' he found his shoulders shaking with laughter by the end of the night, and Yukio wore a smug grin. He didn't even noticed that he was no longer nervous about this being a date, focusing on the sheer absurdity of some of his questions. He had acted as if some of them were the most important things in the world and not just his preference in breakfast foods. Then he took the bill before Toushiro even noticed the waitress had set it on their table.

"I got this," he waved Toushiro off.

"But-"

"Nah, I asked you out. I'll pay."

He was impressed. Yukio didn't seem like the type of person who took etiquette seriously, but Toushiro had never been so wrong about a person before.

...

Yukio had tied his hair back again for that morning's session, and was wearing a pair of sweatpants that sat dangerously low on his hips.

"Are those comfortable?" Toushiro had to ask. They looked like they were going to fall off.

"They're way better than the uniforms. You sure you don't want a pair?"

Toushiro shook his head. "Go warm up."

He watched as Yukio did laps around the courtyard; he'd already warmed up before the boy got there. He had hoped that Yukio would have been on time that morning, but he wasn't. Toushiro wasn't disappointed, per say, but maybe one date hadn't been enough incentive to get him to training on time. He shook his head, no. He could not let his feelings get in the way of Yukio's training. The training itself should be incentive enough. He deserved nothing but professionalism for his lessons. It would not do to short change him, or expect more simply because their personal relationship was changing. While Yukio was finishing up his laps, he dragged out a training dummy. They would try some more complex manoeuvres today, to see how well he could handle those, maybe a few jump kicks and precision exercises as well.

Yukio circled back to him, hopping on the balls of his feet. Toushiro demonstrated a few new moves, some important stances, and then explained how to attack while jumping.

Yukio scoffed. "Don't think I can jump that high."

"You won't know until you try."

"Oh, I know."

Toushiro narrowed his eyes. "Okay we'll try wall jumps to start."

He led Yukio to the courtyard wall, then got some chalk powder from the supply room. He dipped his hand in it then stood facing the wall. Jumping straight up, he slapped his hand against the wall leaving a mark.

"If you can get higher than me, you will have no problem doing a jump kick."

Yukio eyed his hand print with scepticism.

"You can do it, Yukio, and if not we'll train until you can."

He nodded then jumped. Toushiro winced; they would have to do some more training until he was ready for that. Definitely build up his legs muscles; he was used to endurance, not explosive strength. He couldn't really tell with the pants he was wearing, but Toushiro was sure that his legs were on the scrawny side. Though, his calves had to be toned from the amount of running he did.

"Um, Toushiro, my face is up here."

His face was instantly aflame. "I wasn't..." he ended in a huff. "Lunges, we're doing a ladder. 10, 20, 30, 50. Go."

"Are you insane?"

"Go."

Yukio scowled at him, but followed his orders. He would have to re-adjust the training program to include a bit more mass building. Until he was positive that Yukio could supplement _reiatsu_ for physical strength without hurting himself, they would have to do things this way. Yukio was going to hate him for it. The thought made him smirk.

...

Their second date was unplanned in the sense that Toushiro wasn't expecting it. Yukio had come to the office right before the lunch hour, waltzing in with a cup of tea in either hand. Rangiku had already left for her lunch break and he could hear other soldiers moving about outside.

"What's the workload look like today?" he asked, setting one of the cups down on Toushiro's desk.

"Thank you." Toushiro picked up the cup inhaling deeply before taking a sip. Yukio was already behind him, reading the reports from over his shoulder.

"Is this stuff important?"

"It's all important."

He rolled his eyes and moved to Toushiro's daily planner. He picked it up quickly scanning the page, then flipping a few days ahead.

He hummed as he set it back onto the desk. "Come on, let's go get lunch."

"I'm in the middle of-"

"You have time. There's nothing due until like next week, you can afford to take an hour off."

Toushiro narrowed his eyes. He would fall behind but, supposing that he did spare an hour for lunch, he could possibly get this report done quicker when he got back refreshed. Or at most he could take half an hour break. Or he could stay an hour later today-

"Toushiro," Yukio sighed heavily. "You have time. Your report doesn't have to be done right at this very moment." His tone was firm and he stared straight into Toushiro's eyes. Toushiro's stomach bubbled at the thought of leaving his work incomplete, but something in Yukio's voice made him think that it was okay. Maybe. He glanced at his planner, mentally shuffling his schedule around. He could make it work.

Eventually, Toushiro sighed, clicking the pen closed and setting it down on his desk, making sure that it lined up perfectly with the edge of his report. "If I fall behind on schedule, you're helping me to catch up."

"I'd be glad to."

Yukio dragged him to a fairly busy restaurant. They had to wait a while for a seat, but the food smelt amazing and, from the glimpses Toushiro had seen of waiters scurrying about, it looked good too. Toushiro carefully scanned the menu, settling on a rice omelette and a cup of Darjeeling tea.

"You're not that adventurous with food, are you?" Yukio commented after placing his order.

"Um," Toushiro shook his head. "Not in particular."

Yukio clicked his tongue. "That's why you're so skinny."

"No, it's not."

"Try some of my Kakuni."

He wrinkled his nose; he wasn't a fan of pork belly, or the mirin wine and saké that pretty much made up the dish. "No thank you."

Yukio chuckled and Toushiro felt himself smile.

"The only things I've seen you eat are literally tea and white rice."

"That's not true; you brought me miso soup once."

"Rice, tea, and soup-"

"And I ordered egg-"

"That's four things, Toushiro."

"And your point is?"

Yukio grinned. "You're absolutely adorable."

Toushiro blushed. "How do my eating habits make me adorable?"

Yukio shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know; they just do."

The full hour had passed by the time they headed back to the Tenth. Toushiro was anxious to get back to work, but he found that he was happy to spend time with Yukio regardless. He had insisted that he pay once again, and when Toushiro refused he had snuck off to the restroom only to have gone to the front counter to settle their bill there. 'I asked you out; I'm paying' was his only defence, but Toushiro couldn't find it in himself to be truly angry at him. He would pay next time, even if that meant that he would have to be the one to ask Yukio out.

They walked side by side, occasionally bumping into each other to avoid people as they passed by. Their arms brushed more than once, sending jolts of heat up to Toushiro's shoulder each time. He had thanked Yukio for lunch more than once, but it wasn't a matter of gratitude. He looked down, staring at Yukio's hand from the corner of his eyes. Yukio, so far, had been initiating everything. And while Toushiro was interested, he was positive that he was interested, he had yet to give Yukio much confirmation. He chewed the inside of his cheek and drew in a deep breath before reaching out to take Yukio's hand in his. Yukio was visibly startled, and Toushiro's cheeks were aflame as Yukio looked down at him. Yukio smiled widely and gently squeezed his hand, rubbing his thumb across his knuckles. Toushiro's stomach flopped. Yukio's hands were, of course, larger than his and smooth, with long, thick fingers, whereas his were heavily calloused and scarred with knobby knuckles and joints. He chewed the inside of his cheek, hoping that Yukio wouldn't mind.

...

"Sooo, how's it going, Captain?" Ranigku asked.

They were barely into an hour of work and she was already fidgeting at her desk. Toushiro sighed heavily and looked over to her. "I'm going to need some strong tea before we talk about anything."

She had hoped from her seat in a matter of seconds and was skidding down the hallway to the kitchen. Toushiro shook his head. If there was only someway he could get her to be that enthusiastic about her work. She was back in a few minutes with an extra-large cup of black tea. She had set a piece of orange rind on the rim, possibly to soften him up for juicy details. He took a long sip, savouring the flavour, but pretending to take a bit longer than he had to. Rangiku was practically salivating watching him. Eventually, he set the cup back down on his desk and leaned back against his chair.

"Thank you, Matsumoto."

"Any time." She leaned against the edge of his desk. "So, let's get to business; I heard you and Yukio went on a date yesterday."

Toushiro felt his cheeks heat slightly. "We did."

Rangiku squealed. He was still shocked that such a high-pitched noise could come from a grown woman. "Details, now! Where did you go? What did you talk about?"

"We just had lunch together. It's not anything big."

"Of course it's big! What happened? Tell me!"

He sighed deeply and gave his report a longing glance. "He came to the office and asked if I wanted to eat lunch with him. I saw no problem in going with him."

"That's big, Captain, if he could convince you to take time off for lunch. Anyway, what do you think of him?"

Toushiro tilted his head. "He's amusing. I don't dislike him."

Rangiku scoffed. "You don't dislike him? That's one way of putting it, I guess. How does he make you feel?"

He was most positively blushing. Even his ears felt hot. "I... I don't know... he's enjoyable to be around. I feel like I can... relax with him."

She smiled reaching out to smooth a lock of hair from his forehead. He jerked away, scowling slightly. Rangiku, diverted her hand and patted his cheek instead. "You two are so cute together."

His scowl deepened. "Really, Captain, he'll be good for you. You've been wound up so tightly lately."

"I'm not wound up."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're so tightly wound that you probably shit spirals."

He rolled his eyes; that was the cue to send Rangiku back to work. He shoved her from his desk and she chuckled as she went to her own.

"It was our second date, by the way." He didn't know why he granted her that information. "He took me for tea before this... we held hands."

Rangiku's eyes lit up. "Like I just said, he'll be good for you."

...

Toushiro had never been to a restaurant as fancy as the one they went to the following week. Yukio had instructed him to wear his good clothes for their date that night. Toushiro was a bit miffed that Yukio had asked him out before he had gotten the chance to, but he was glad to go regardless that it meant Yukio would be once again paying. They had met outside the Tenth after work. Yukio had somehow gotten his hands on a very nice set of _hakama_ and _kodose_ , at first glance Toushiro thought that he was still in his uniform but, when he got closer he realised that the fabric was much nicer and there was navy stitching along the hem. He had opted for a light, summer _yukata_ of mint green. His granny had made it.

Yukio smiled when he saw him. "You look... good."

Toushiro blushed. "Thanks. So do you."

"Shall we?"

Toushiro nodded and slipped his hand into Yukio's.

Rangiku had suggested the restaurant after she had found out that Yukio had the means. Toushiro held his breath as they walked through a grand entrance lit by ornate candelabras and were guided to their table by a waiter who was wearing clothes far more expensive than Toushiro even owned. He couldn't bring himself to look at the prices on the menu. Yukio then took it upon himself to order for the both of them.

"Yukio, this is too much," Toushiro mumbled as he gave the waiter their order.

"It's my treat, don't worry about it."

"It's far too expensive."

"Trust me, it's not." Toushiro was about to argue further, but Yukio stopped him. "Hey, I want to do this, okay?"

Toushiro shook his head. "Why?"

Yukio raised an eyebrow and something between a smirk and an embarrassed smile crossed his face. "Because I really like you."

Toushiro chewed his bottom lip.

"And I'm hoping that this will make you like me back."

Toushiro tilted his head and regarded the boy as he nervously fidgeted with his napkin. "Fancy restaurants won't make me change my opinion on you. I believe... that I would have enjoyed the time spent with you even if we had gone to a ramen stall."

Yukio's face lit up. "But this is better, though?"

Toushiro scoffed softly. "Yes. It's better."

"Then, I wanna ask you a question."

"Go ahead."

Yukio paused for a heartbeat, and resumed fidgeting with his napkin. "Will... will you be my... boyfriend?"

There was no other way to describe the feeling in his chest other than warm and fuzzy. He nodded. "Of course."

They walked hand-in-hand back home; Yukio tapping a light beat on Toushiro's knuckles. They were silent otherwise. Yukio was smiling and Toushiro couldn't help but look up at him, watching the way his eyes glowed in happiness, and forgoing concentrating on the street before them. Before now, he hadn't thought that just being with another person could make someone so happy. He was glad that he could make Yukio this happy.

"I'll walk you home."

"That's not necessary," Toushiro answered softly. "My quarters are completely out of your way."

"I've never seen your quarters."

"Not very many people have."

"Then, can I be one of them?"

Toushiro raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "How about I walk you to your quarters? It really is out of our way. You can see them some other time."

"Promise?" Yukio grinned cheekily.

Toushiro gently squeezed his hand. "Okay."

They stopped in front of Yukio's room facing each other. It was pretty late, and he could see a few lanterns flickering from behind closed doors around them. Thankfully, no one was out.

"Tonight was... great," Yukio mumbled.

"Yes, it was."

"We'll have to do it again. Soon."

"I'm paying next time."

He chuckled. "If you really want to. Anyway... I guess... it's time..."

"Good night, Yukio. I will see you at work tomorrow."

"Yeah..." He was reluctant to let go of Toushiro's hand and let out a deep breath through his teeth. He scrubbed a hand up his face, pushing his hair from his eyes.

"Is-"

Toushiro's eyes widened as Yukio leaned forward pressing his lips to his forehead. They were warm and soft, leaving his skin tingling. Yukio's face was red when he straightened, but he was smiling. Toushiro brought his hand to his forehead, touching the spot where Yukio's lips had been.

"Yeah, good night." He slipped into his room, leaving Toushiro staring after him with his chest expanding with warmth.

...

"That is not a deep squat, Yukio." Toushiro remarked as Yukio barely bent his knees.

"Come on, Toushiro, I'm literally dying here."

He could see Yukio's legs trembling from where he was, but he knew the boy had it in him for at least one more set.

"Five more then you can have a break."

"How 'bout five more, then a kiss?"

Toushiro paused. "If... do you..."

Yukio chuckled breathily. "Don't worry about it."

Toushiro shook his head, snapping back into instructor mode. "One more set."

Yukio groaned, but bent into a full squat just as Toushiro had instructed. He collapsed to the ground when he had finished all five. "My ass better be bomb after all this," he panted.

Toushiro didn't quite understand the slang, but he felt he should respond. "It should be." He tossed Yukio his water bottle, slightly taken aback when he started to laugh. "What?"

"You're effing adorable, that's what."

Toushiro shook his head. "You can cool down with some laps when you're ready."

Yukio forced himself to his feet. "Run with me."

The fullbringer set the slow pace around the courtyard. They had run through a few precision and speed exercises with a training dummy, before Toushiro had him do some lower body strength training. Yukio was going to hate him for it tomorrow and possibly the day after. He might have thrown in an extra set of weighted lunges because Yukio had once again been late.

"This is my twelfth week of training, isn't it?" Yukio asked.

Toushiro quickly counted down in his head. "Yes, it is."

"We're halfway through, then."

"We are." Toushiro felt a slight pang in his chest, suddenly feeling as if six months weren't long enough after all.

"When are we gonna spar again?"

"When you can finally jump high enough to do a jump kick."

Yukio stuck his tongue out. "Says the one who didn't do a single squat today."

"I don't need to-"

"How am I supposed to know? Not like I can see your ass in that dumb uniform."

Toushiro scowled. "And let's keep it that way, shall we?"

But when they were done running, he stretched up on his tiptoes to give Yukio a quick peck on the cheek. He didn't know what struck him to do so, but before he could decide to back out he was already flat on his feet, cheeks burning and staring nervously as the kiss took time to register in Yukio's mind. When it did, the boy grinned, bringing his hand to his cheeks as they reddened.

"I literally _cannot_ believe how cute you are." His cheeks reddened further as he spoke.

Toushiro swallowed, his mouth feeling dry while the rest of his face burned. It was a pleasant feeling.

...

Office work tended to come in waves. Toushiro managed to stay afloat by keeping a precise schedule, but even his schedule wasn't a match for the tsunami that suddenly overtook the Tenth a week after the mid-point of Yukio's training. All seated members were working double office shifts and Toushiro was pinned to his desk. All at once approvals had come in from the Thirteenth, and then the construction team had sent in their reports for briefing. Materials needed to be checked, ordered, counted, the budget had to be completed at that very moment, and new schedules made and assigned. Soldiers needed to be shuffled around because there was not enough hands on deck. That meant Toushiro had to put in a request for aid from another division, or request outside help and employ people from the _Rukon_ districts. With how short staffed the Seireitei was at the moment it meant that the second option was more viable, but also it meant more work on his end. A scouting team had to be assembled, and fresh workers had to be inducted and briefed. New personnel files had to be made and filed correctly, and the budget had to be yet again re-adjusted to account for the new labour.

Toushiro had averaged about two hours of sleep a night for nearly a week. Even Rangiku had stayed up with him a night or two. By the time he had signed his name on the absolute last sheet of paper his entire body was shaking with exhaustion, his vision turned grey when he shifted his eyes too quickly, and he had had the worst headache he had ever had in a long while. He rested his forehead to the cool top of his desk, rubbing his temples, and wishing that the change in temperature would soothe his aching head. He wasn't even sure what time it was or the day. Everything had started to blend together some time ago, but he was pretty sure that it was Friday. He knew it had to be late; Rangiku wasn't at her desk and outside seemed a bit dark. Or it was really early; he had no idea. He knew that he should probably get up to check the time, and head back to his quarters to refresh himself, but his brain was misfiring and his limbs wouldn't move. So, he shut his eyes, a ten minute nap wouldn't hurt at this point. Maybe his headache would have subsided a bit by then. He must have drifted off for a while, because he startled awake at a voice calling his name.

"Hey, Toushiro!"

He groaned softly as a familiar set of footsteps rushed into the office. He was glad that Yukio was coming to check on him, but he didn't think he could handle his incessant chatter at this time.

"Toushi- Oh."

There was complete silence for a few beats and the lights flickered off. He breathed out a sigh of relief, but it was odd that Yukio would have just left him like that. With his head throbbing the way it was though, he wasn't in the mood to think of a reason why. He was already slipping into unconsciousness again. He jumped awake when a cup was set on his desk with a thud. He forced himself to sit up, but continued to hold his head as he straightened. Yukio was standing in front of his desk regarding him with concern.

"You look like an actual zombie."

Toushiro grumbled.

"Here." He held out a small white bottle. "For your headache."

Toushiro eyed the bottle before reaching out for it. "How did you know I had a headache?"

Yukio shrugged. "After like ten hours straight of going through reports I would have a headache too. Lucky guess, I guess."

"Thanks." He tried to unscrew the bottle, but the cover only made a clicking noise and spun uselessly. He was too tired for this, and his head was pounding too badly. Yukio looked like he was trying his hardest not to laugh as he took the bottle back and opened it for him. There must have been some trick to it.

"Just two should be fine."

He swallowed the pills with a gulp of water, then drained the glass for good measure. He had to have been dehydrated as well.

"Is everything done?" Yukio asked as he slumped back against his seat.

"Yeah."

"You ready to go home, then?"

"...Yeah." He sighed as he forced himself from his chair, holding on to the edge of the desk as his legs felt clumsy and the ground swayed a bit. He heard Yukio click his tongue and an arm was slung around his waist. He was too tired to feel embarrassed, despite the small part of his brain that was screaming.

"How much tea did you take? I have a feeling you're more caffeine than _shinigami_ right now."

The pills were starting to work, and he could feel his headache receding slightly.

"No wonder you're so short. Caffeine stunts your growth, you know."

"It does not. That is a myth."

Yukio chuckled softly. "Just checking to see if you were still person enough to have thought processes."

"Funny."

Yukio was leading him from the office. "You need like a week's vacation at a spa after this."

Toushiro scoffed. He could never do that.

"Though..." Yukio trailed off. "We could... I mean, if you're up for it, the baths should be free at this time. You look like you need to relax a bit."

What he needed right now was sleep. But, the idea of soaking in a warm bath was very appealing. His lower back was stiff from sitting in his chair all week. "'kay."

He felt Yukio's body twitch as if he hadn't been expecting his answer. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'll need you to stay, 'cause I might fall asleep and drown."

The tension in Yukio's body was what made him realise that what he had said was not all that appropriate. He winced, shaking his head. "I mean..."

Yukio shushed him with a soft chuckle. "You're adorable when you're tired. But yeah, I think it would be for the best if I do stay."

They made a quick stop to Toushiro's then Yukio's room to gather bathing supplies. The bath house was blessedly empty when they arrived. Toushiro let out a soft sigh of relief as he slipped into the warm pool, resting the back of his head against the ledge. Yukio was still rinsing off; he had brought shampoo, and was taking his time in washing his hair. Toushiro would have waited, but he felt uncomfortable watching Yukio in nothing but a towel. In fact, he had drifted away for a few minutes with his eyes fixed on Yukio's back, on a single, tiny mole at the bottom of his right shoulder blade. He should not have known that it was there. Asking him to join him for a bath had been incredibly forward. Yet, he found himself wondering if he had moles or freckles anywhere else.

Toushiro felt himself being jolted awake when Yukio sat down next to him and the water rippled around his chest. He had fallen asleep in the few short minutes it took Yukio to finish up; it was a very disconcerting feeling.

"How much sleep did you get this week?" Yukio asked, stretching his arms above his head.

"Dunno." He mumbled, tiredly following the motion with his eyes. The muscles in his shoulders and arms contracted. Toushiro wondered how he had looked like before starting to train. He must have been terribly skinny, but who was he to make that remark.

"Gods, Toushiro, that's terrible," Yukio chuckled.

He grumbled in affirmation, breathing in the steam that rose from the water. He already felt his muscles relaxing as the heat seeped into every inch of his body. "I'll make up for it."

" _That_ is a myth. You can't actually catch up on sleep; your body just sleeps as much as it needs any given night."

Toushiro hummed, letting his eyes fall shut once more. Gods, it was hard to stay awake.

"How's the headache?"

"Better. Just tired now."

"And hungry?"

"A bit. More tired." His head was lolling to the side, out of his control.

"You can sleep after this."

"Sleep now."

"You'll end up all wrinkly."

"Dun care."

He heard Yukio scoff and the water splash softly as the boy moved around.

"Here, do you want a massage?"

Toushiro's eyes flew open and suddenly the exhaustion fled from his limbs. "I... um. You don't have to. I'm fine."

Yukio sat sideways on the ledge to face him. The ends of his hair curled slightly as the stuck to his chin and neck. He had pushed the hair that usually covered his left eye behind his ear and a few bits stuck up in awkward chunks. The water had darkened the wheat colour to a dark, burnished gold. Toushiro knew that water hardly did him any favours, turning his own locks transparent and plastering everything to his scalp. He looked away, chewing the inside of his cheek.

"That wasn't my question, though. Come on, you look a tense."

Toushiro sighed softly, and turning to give Yukio his back. His neck was tight, and so was his lower back, but he didn't want Yukio's hands down there. Not yet at least.

"There we go." He placed his hands on Toushiro's shoulders and began kneading, digging his palms into the wound up muscles. His hands left tiny sparks wherever they touched, and, if possible, felt hotter than the bath. He held back a hiss as Yukio tackled a few tight knots, but as he worked through them Toushiro felt his eyelids begin to droop.

"You really don't have an ounce of fat on you," Yukio mumbled.

Toushiro shrugged.

"Like you walked straight off the runway."

"Not tall enough to be a model."

Yukio laughed. "How do you know _that_ , and not what espresso was?"

"Matsumoto. She likes to read fashion magazines from the World of the Living."

"Right. You're hot enough to be a model, though."

Toushiro shook his head.

"Seriously. I was not expecting this when you took off your shirt."

"Expecting what?"

He ran a finger down Toushiro's spine. "This."

Toushiro jumped, his back arching in effort to escape Yukio's finger.

"Ticklish?"

Toushiro glared at him from over his shoulder. "Don't you dare."

Yukio grinned, continuing the massage. "Totally not fair."

Toushiro's head lolled forward. "I don't sit on my ass playing video games all day."

"But you do sit on your ass."

He scoffed. "Lately, yes. But, I have gone through decades of training. You've been here for what? Thirteen weeks?"

"True. I never would have thought that sword fighting would give you such toned muscles, though." He ran his hands boldly down Toushiro's arms, lightly squeezing his biceps for emphasis. Toushiro shivered.

"It's called _zanjutsu_. And yes, it involves your entire body. I also had to train harder to control Hyourinmaru. I was a bit young when he began to manifest so, I had to try hard to keep up."

"Right, I think I remember reading somewhere that _katana_ can be kinda heavy."

" _Katana_ usually are around a kilogram, depending on the length. But a _zanpakuto's_ weight is linked to its master's _reiatsu_. I have no problem lifting Hyourinmaru, but you, or anyone else, would never be able to."

"That's confusing. If Hyourinmaru was a normal _katana_ , how much would he weigh?"

"Hyorinmaru would be considered an _ōdachi_ – a great sword. _Katana_ are usually longer than sixty centimetres, while _ōdachi_ are anywhere above one metre."

Yukio scoffed. "How long is he, exactly?"

Toushiro sighed, knowing where this was going. "He's 1.4 metres. Yes, it's a cosmic joke; let's give the shortest _shinigami_ in the _Seireitei_ an _ōdachi_ that's taller than him."

"He is not." He could hear the laughter in his voice.

"He is, really. Anyway, you seem... I'm sure that all this talk is boring you."

"Nah. It's pretty cool. Besides, I should know at least the bare minimum of what my boyfriend does for a living."

Toushiro was a bit taken aback at the word boyfriend. It was one thing to know it in theory, but hearing it aloud did something to his stomach.

"And you, Yukio?" He turned around, sitting cross-legged on the ledge to face the boy. "You are still quite a mystery to me."

Yukio folded his arms across his chest and cocked his head. "Me? Well, I own Vorarlberna Industries. We're an international game and electronics company. I took over when my parents... uh, you know."

Toushiro frowned. "I thought your parents-"

"Yeah, they did. But I started over with the same company and we're thriving." He was staring at his hands, which he had let drop to his lap.

"I don't know the first thing about games, or electronics, if I'm completely honest." Toushiro tried to change the subject.

Yukio's eyes seemed to sparkle. "I'd be more than happy to show you."

Toushiro smiled. "Yes, I would like that."

...

"Is that like all you're bringing?" Yukio asked, eyeing Touhiro's knapsack.

Toushiro sighed, hiking his bag onto his shoulder. "It's only a week," he grumbled.

Yes, only a week. A week that he was supposed to leave his squad in the care of Rangiku and his third seat. A week that he was cut off from paperwork. A week that he could potentially fall behind, if there were errors that he was not there to catch, or pick up the slack when needed. His stomach rolled at the thought. He had tried every way he could, to get out of this forced vacation. Yukio had gone behind his back, along with Rangiku and a few other seated members of his squad, and talked with Kyoraku about giving him some time off. Apparently, they were concerned about him after the last week of work. If they were truly concerned they would have left him alone to run his division. They had pleaded his case without him, giving – false – proof that he was overworked. So what if he had slept for a straight fifteen hours that weekend? It only meant that he was refreshed and ready to start another week of work. Kyoruaku had ordered him to take a vacation of a minimum week's length and Yukio had swooped in to invite him to stay with him in the World of the Living. Toushiro wondered if that hadn't been his plan all along.

"You're like the only person who I've seen is annoyed that they're going on holiday," Yukio chuckled.

"I'm going to fall behind."

"No, you're not."

"You're messing up my schedule."

"Rangiku and your seated members are more than qualified to handle things."

Toushiro huffed. Yukio didn't understand. He had gone through the utmost care to plan out his schedule. He had allotted for drawbacks, but not for a week of waste. He was sure that he would come back to find things an unorganised mess. He clenched his fists and chewed his bottom lip as the thought made his skin itch and his head spin.

"Hey," Yukio grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a tight hug. "Don't you trust your soldiers?"

"I do." Toushiro mumbled into Yukio's chest, before pulling away. "But... what if something goes wrong? I have to be here to stop it."

Yukio tilted his head, a slight frown on his brow. "Nothing will go wrong."

"You don't know that." No one knew. That's why he had to re-read any document that left the Tenth at least three times before approving them.

"Toushiro, do you have OCD?"

"What?"

He shook his head, answering his own question. "No, you're not obsessive compulsive. But, look I'm no way a psychologist, but you may have a bit of OCPD. Have you ever been tested?"

Psychologist? "I'm not mentally impacted in any way."

"No, but you're like a genius, and genius tends to come with a few eccentricities. Look, you worry a lot. More than most people."

Toushiro scowled. "I don't even know what that OCPD is."

"We'll talk about that later. But right now, it's important to me that you know that nothing will go wrong if you leave the Tenth for a week."

Toushiro breathed in deeply. "I _don't_ know that."

Yukio blinked slowly, then sighed softly. "Rangiku will call you if anything goes wrong. We'll be able to get back to fix it." He scratched the back of his neck and scoffed. "This is a great start to our vacation, isn't it?"

Toushiro chewed his bottom lip. Yukio seemed frustrated with him; he hadn't meant to anger him, but he was not comfortable with leaving the _Seireitei_ when there was so much work to be done. Still, he allowed himself to be lead to the _senkaimon_ and into the World of the Living, now feeling guilty on both accounts.

They stopped at Urahara's to pick up a _gigai_. Toushiro wouldn't need it around Yukio, but if they were to go out in public it would look odd for him to be talking to thin air. Toushiro had forgotten how constricting they were as he rolled his shoulders trying to adjust. Yukio eyed him up and down as they waited in front of Urahara's shop for their ride to Yukio's home.

"Did you choose that outfit?" he asked.

Toushiro looked down at his clothes; ripped jeans and a black sweater. He wasn't sure who dressed the _gigais_ , actually, and had no idea where the clothes had come from. "You don't like it?"

"No, you look cute. Was just wondering. I asked one of my PAs to get you some like normal clothes for the week, but I wasn't sure what your style was."

"What's wrong with this?"

"Nothing, but you can't wear it for the entire week."

"Why not?"

Yukio looked as though he had asked if they could go skydiving, into an active volcano, on a deserted tropical island. His eyes had bulged slightly."Because you can't."

He didn't understand and Yukio didn't seem inclined to explain anything to him. However, a large, black car had just pulled up in front of them and Yukio started to grin widely. A man dressed in an impeccable suit stepped out of the driver's seat and gave Yukio a small bow.

"Master Yukio, welcome back."

"Hey Hanasaki," Yukio grinned. "Thanks for picking me up."

"It was no trouble at all."

"This is Toushiro, my boyfriend. I told you guys he's staying with us for a week."

"Yes, Master." He bowed to Toushiro, "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir."

Toushiro nodded in greeting, unsure how to answer. But no sooner had he spoken, had Hanasaki moved to take Yukio's luggage and Toushiro's bag. Yukio opened the back door and motioned for Toushiro to get into the car. Toushiro was not familiar at all with the luxuries of the Living World, but he knew that this was not common. He sat back against the soft, leather seat.

"Yukio, what-"

"I'm filthy rich, remember?" He chuckled as he spread his arms against the top of the backrest, hooking one around Toushiro's shoulders and pulling him into his side. "Just wait until you see the manor."

Toushiro rolled his eyes and rested his head against Yukio's chest. He would allow him this cockiness just for today. Yukio settled his hand on Toushiro's hip and leaned down to give him a quick peck on the forehead.

Yukio lived on the outskirts of Karakura, but it took another ten minutes to drive from the edge of his property to the actual house. If it could be called a house. Some buildings in the Seireitei didn't even look this grand. There was so much glass and weird plants everywhere.

"What do you think?" Yukio asked, resting his chin on Toushiro's shoulder as he looked through the window.

"I think you're too ostentatious."

Yukio chuckled, "What good is having all this money if I don't spend it?"

A full staff of maids and butlers greeted them at the front door. Yukio addressed them all by name, introducing them to Toushiro and explaining what they did. They genuinely seemed happy to see him. But, Toushiro was a bit overwhelmed at the grandeur of everything. It all looked so expensive, he was reluctant to even walk on the floor in fear of dirtying it.

"So like, I don't want to be presumptuous or anything, but you don't mind sharing a room, right?" Yukio asked, pausing as he was about to push open a set of dark oak doors.

Toushiro hesitated himself. "I suppose not." He knew that that meant, but he wasn't exactly worried about it.

"Great," Yukio grinned and pushed open the door. "This is my room."

The walls were painted a light grey, with giant pieces of abstract art. There were a few well tended plants in ornate pots around the room, and a black plus rug covered most of the hardwood floor. The curtains in front of a doorway to a huge balcony were black. There was a black, oversized couch, that sat facing the largest screen Toushiro had seen in the Living world and multiple game consoles sat on a fancy, glass shelving unit. There was also a desk with a few computer monitors and other electronics that he wasn't familiar with, and a massive bookshelf filled to the brim with books, video game cases, and expensive looking ornaments. The only thing that was missing in this grand room was a-

"Where's your bed?"

Yukio chuckled. "Getting straight to the point, huh, babe?"

Toushiro flushed. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. Only teasing."

He guided Toushiro to another pair of doors right beside the one they had entered through. These opened on rolling hinges to reveal another room painted a darker grey, but with similar black furniture. A short staircase led up to an impossibly large bed with way too many pillows, fluffy, black sheets, and an ornate headboard. Their luggage was already sitting on a low table at the foot of the bed. Toushiro looked around in awe. This was like a palace belonging to a prince. He felt out of place, not being able to wrap his mind around this side of his boyfriend.

"So I might have lied when I said I owned a multimillion dollar company."

Toushiro's head snapped to face him.

Yukio was grinning from ear to ear. "My net worth might be a couple billion."

Toushiro scoffed. "You are being far too cocky for my liking."

"Just for that, you're sleeping on the couch."

"I don't mind. It looks better than my futon."

Toushiro did a slow circle around the room. There was another door leading to his bathroom and yet another to his walk-in (and get-lost-in) closet. Everything in his closet was black, and Toushiro really did think he could get lost in it, especially with all the floor-to-ceiling mirrors that took up all the space that the shelves didn't.

"So, I was thinking," Yukio said, as Toushiro wandered back out of the closet. He had turned on the television. Toushiro just noticed that he had another television and more game consoles on the wall across from his bed. And that the wall they were mounted to was a huge mirror. "We should probably get something to eat, and then we can come back, unpack, and get you settled in."

Toushiro nodded, utterly stunned at all this luxury. He rounded the foot of the bed to stand next to Yukio and took his hand in his. "I can't believe you."

"Is it too much?"

He shook his head. "I just wasn't expecting... wait did you call me babe?"

Yukio looked confused for a moment then laughed heartily. "You're only just now realising?" He stopped laughing suddenly. "You don't like it?"

"I... I don't dislike it..."

"Toushiro-"

"I... I think... yes, I like it."

"Good." Yukio squeezed his hand. "You can call me something."

"Hmm?"

"A pet name."

Toushiro felt himself flush. "I... don't... Yukio is fine for me."

"Yeah, I meant to ask you. You never called me by my surname. You call everyone else by their surname."

"Oh." He felt his blush deepen. "I... I don't know how to pronounce your surname."

Yukio was silent for all of two seconds before he doubled over in laughter. Toushiro chewed the inside of his cheek, waiting for Yukio to finish. It wasn't that funny, was it?

"We've known each other for how long?" He gasped, leaning against his bed. "I'm your boyfriend. I know _your_ full name."

Toushiro folded his arms across his chest. "I _know_ your full name; I just can't pronounce it."

The last of his chuckles died down. "It is a bit difficult; I'll give you that. You Japanese tend to get mixed up with like all the Rs and the L."

"You're not Japanese?"

He shook his head. "Nah. My mother had like some Japanese heritage, that's why the company's based here. Ethnically, I'm from Sweden, but I was born in Japan. My parents just liked how the name Yukio sounded. Anyway it's pronounced Vor-rar-luh," he paused as if expecting that was the part where Toushiro got mixed up, "bear-na."

"Um, Vor..."

They went back and forth for a while until he was pleased that Toushiro had gotten it right.

"What about the Hans?"

"Hmm. Oh, that's my middle name. Uh, I guess many Asian cultures don't have like middle names, but in the west we usually get three names; a given name, a middle name, and a surname. It's a bit confusing for people here so, my middle name often gets tacked onto my surname."

"Oh." There was so much about the boy that he didn't know.

"Anyway, let's go eat!"

...

Yukio's assistant had gotten him a pair of pyjamas too. It was unbelievable, the lavish lifestyle Yukio lived. He was only staying for a week, but when they had gotten back from lunch a series of shopping bags had appeared in Yukio's room containing more than enough clothes for Toushiro to go through that week. It was almost too much. He sat on Yukio's bed playing with the hem of his rather large shirt. He had taken one look at the silk pyjama set and put it right back in the bag. Yukio had chuckled and offered him an alternative of a simple, (yet made out of the softest fabric he had ever touched) grey T-shirt and a pair of dark pants – he called them joggers. Yukio was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, while Toushiro stared at the television. He wasn't paying attention to the program, his mind wondering back to the Tenth. He hopped that nothing would go wrong. Thankfully the amount of paperwork had died down with the end of last week, so there shouldn't be much backlog for him to get back home to. Still -

"Hey," Yukio crawled onto the bed smelling of toothpaste and dressed in a black t-shirt and black boxer shorts, with his hair pulled back from his face by a few hairpins. "You tired?"

Toushiro allowed him to sit down behind him and wrap his arms around his waist. "A little bit."

He rested his chin on Toushiro's shoulder. "I knew you'd look cute in joggers."

"They're just pants."

"They make your ass look good."

Toushiro rolled his eyes, blushing slightly. Fine, if Yukio wanted to be like that. He turned around to face his boyfriend, tucking his legs underneath him. Yukio backed off slightly, but his arms were still wound loosely around his waist. He reached to flick a lock of straw blond hair that had escaped from its pin. "Your hair looks good like this."

"Like _this_?" Yukio scoffed. "This is my bed-time hair, babe."

Toushiro cocked his head. "I like when it's pulled back and I can see your face."

Yukio's expression softened. "I honestly don't know what to say to that... thanks?"

Toushiro shrugged.

"Anyway, you wanna watch a movie or something?"

"Um, okay."

Yukio swooped in, pecking him on the cheek before flopping backwards and rolling over to his nightstand. Toushiro watched as his shirt rode up with all his movements, exposing a bit of skin above his waistband and a trail of light, wiry hairs that lead from his navel down. Toushiro's mouth went dry instantly. Yukio popped back up, with a remote controller in his hand and pointed it at the TV. If he had seen Toushiro staring, he didn't say anything.

"What are you in the mood for? Action, sci-fi, rom-com, horror?"

"Um, I don't know what any of that is."

Yukio cocked his head. "Actually, I have an idea of something you might like. It's historical, about Vikings. Lots of drama and action. You up for it?"

"Okay."

Yukio pulled back the covers, motioning for Toushiro to join him. Moments later he was cuddled into Yukio's side, resting his head against his chest. Yukio had an arm wrapped around his waist, the other held the remote. It was most likely intentional that Yukio had a mirrored wall directly in front of his bed.

"You good?" Yukio asked.

Toushiro tore his eyes from their reflection."Yeah."

"Comfy?"

"Yeah."

He squeezed his waist before setting the movie to play. It was interesting, Toushiro thought. He had a general idea of what a movie was, but he had not been expecting this. Everything was so realistic, like he was sucked into a miniature world. Yukio was continuously stroking his waist, chuckling every time he reacted with the characters. There was a particularly gruesome battle scene, which had Toushiro's grunting in pain and flinching when someone's arm was hacked off. Yukio scoffed, pressing his lips to his temple.

"You know it's not real, babe."

"I know," Toushiro grumbled, feeling his cheeks heat. He nuzzled his face against Yukio's collar bone and threw an arm over his chest. That had hit a bit too close to home, when Aizen had cut off his arm in battle. Yukio kissed his temple again and he peaked back up at the screen. Soon the movie ended in some sort of forced romance a celebratory feast, and then they watched as words rolled across the screen.

"What did you think?" Yukio asked.

"It was good. I can see why you like them so much."

He squeezed his waist again. "So, bed time now?"

"I suppose so." He was still lying on Yukio's chest, not quite ready to move yet. Yukio also seemed content to continue to stroke his waist.

"I mean, unless you wanna like..." he trailed off.

"Hmmm?"

"Never mind."

"Yukio," Toushiro shifted his head to look at his face.

"It's nothing, really, babe."

Toushiro wasn't convinced, but he wouldn't pressure Yukio. He wasn't a fan of being pressured himself. However, he did have an idea of where the boy's thoughts were headed. They were boyfriends, lying together in a bed, under the sheets, and in less clothes than either of them was used to wearing. He wasn't sure if he was ready for that kind of stuff yet. But, he held his breath in an effort to build up his confidence, but he could compromise. He let everything out in a quick huff and rolled on to his front. He propped himself up on his hands, leaning over Yukio a bit. Yukio was quietly watching him, probably a bit confused.

"Thanks for everything today. It was wonderful."

Yukio grinned. "Anything for you, baby."

Toushiro nearly lost his nerve right then. But with his cheeks on fire, he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Yukio's. Yukio wasted no time in kissing back. He cupped the back of Toushiro's head with one hand and wound the other around his waist.

"You have like no idea how long I've been waiting for you to do that," he said as they broke apart.

"Me?" Toushiro's entire face was on fire now. His lips were tingling something fierce. "Why didn't you-"

"Didn't want to scare you off. I mean, I was the one to ask you out, then ask if you wanted to be my boyfriend. Didn't wanna push my luck."

Toushiro smiled, licking his lips. "I wouldn't have been angry at you."

"Well, now I know." He gently guided Toushiro's face back to his.

Toushiro's eyes fluttered shut as the kiss deepened. Yukio had sat up, pulling Toushiro close and onto his lap. Toushiro wound his arms around Yukio's neck, threading his fingers in his hair. The kiss was deep and slow, both in no rush. Yukio tasted of minty toothpaste and smelt of an expensive soap, nothing like the harsh bars they had back in the Soul Society. His lips were soft and smooth, his hair silky, and his hands – his hands had found themselves under the back of his shirt and were lighting small fires against his skin. He pressed Toushiro into him, flush against his chest, and they promptly fell backwards. Toushiro propped himself up on his elbows, knees splayed on either side of Yukio's hips. They did not stop kissing. Yukio's hands blazed a trail up his spine, across his ribs and chest, before finding home on his hips, rubbing circles and raising goose-bumps above his hip bones and dangerously close to his waistband. He wanted to touch too, boldly; he trailed his fingers from the back of Yukio's head, down his neck and across a sharp collar bone. He followed his sternum, across a developing pec, and then down where he pressed his palm against his waist.

They broke apart, hearts racing and eyes blown.

"Let me get the lights," Yukio panted.

Toushiro drew back. "I... I don't want to uh... not tonight."

Yukio looked confused for a bit, but then stretched upwards to kiss Toushiro deeply once more. "We go as far as you want to. I'll make out with you literally all night, if that's what you want."

And in the darkness, kiss they did.

* * *

 **Early update because I have no control over my life.**

 **And and actual A/N this time. Kubo didn't expound on Yukio much i.e. at all. So I've taken liberties with Yukio's linage. Since 'Hans' is a common given name in many European countries, and well I kinda liked the idea of Yukio not being Japanese and having a middle name. I actually have no clue on how his surname is pronounced either – didn't even know how to spell it, been going to the wiki every time and copy-pasting. I thought that it did not sound Japanese at all and made up my own pronunciation to suit (certified logophile here, yes I researched pronunciation guides and referenced Swedish words).**

 **Looks like this is going to be a three-shot after all :)**

 **-Mymomomo**


	3. Chapter 3

It took Toushiro a moment to figure out where he was that morning. Yukio's curtains impressively blocked out any outside light, and the dark colours of his bedroom didn't help much. He struggled against the fluffy comforter for a moment, before sitting up and looking around. It was too dark to read the wall clock, but if he was awake now it meant that it was sometime before six, or five. Yukio was snoring lightly beside him, one arm thrown across his waist – now in his lap as he was sitting. Sensing Toushiro's movement, he nuzzled against his hip, having forgone his pillow sometime during the night in favour of curling around Toushiro. Toushiro shook his head fondly; of course he would be a cuddler. But, it was surprising that he hadn't woken up when Yukio wrapped himself around him. Either way, he was awake now and there was no falling back asleep, even if he didn't have anything to be up for that day. He carefully wiggled out of Yukio's hold and slipped off the bed, chuckling softly when Yukio immediately re-attached himself to a pillow.

He made his way to the bathroom. Maybe by the time he had showered Yukio would be awake. The clock in the bathroom read five thirty – he didn't ponder on why Yukio would have a clock in the bathroom, it could possibly have been another rule of luxury he didn't understand. The room was white, thankfully breaking from Yukio's black and grey theme, although all the towels, mats, and other accessories were black. His boyfriend might have a minor obsession. The tub was big enough to comfortably seat five and had enough knobs, nozzles, and dials to confuse him. The shower was made with glass walls and had the strangest looking showerhead that he had ever seen.

Picking up his toothbrush from the holder by the sink, he caught a glimpse of a dark mark near his neck. He leaned closer to the mirror, squinting at the spot on his collar bone. He didn't remember doing anything that would have resulted in a bruise there, but his face reddened instantly when he realised exactly what it was. He lightly prodded the reddish-purple spot and sighed. Yukio had been passionate last night and, yes, he could recall him sucking and biting that particular spot. He had not thought that it would leave a mark, however; it hadn't hurt. Things had gotten pretty heated last night, in fact. His lips still felt slightly raw and did look a bit puffy now that he observed them. They had kissed until they were both exhausted, falling asleep on top of one another. Toushiro had never been kissed like that before. Yukio had held him tightly, as if it was impossible for them to be close enough. His touches had been heated and urgent, but never rough. He had boldly gone under Toushiro's shirt, trailing his fingers over scars and skin alike, tickling his ribs, and running along his spine. The memory made him light-headed and hot all over, so he quickly undressed and jumped into the shower.

Yukio was still not awake when he was done and Toushiro didn't see any point in waking him up. So, he wandered out into the sitting room area and picked out a book from the over-packed shelf. Yukio's collection ranged from magazines on business, finance, and science and Technology, memoires by successful business people and artists, to teen fiction, graphic novels, novellas, and horror stories. There was no way Yukio had read all of these. Quite a few of them weren't even in Japanese. He selected one of the tech magazines and settled on the couch after opening the curtains and turning on a few lights. He was absorbed immediately, not even noticing when sunlight began streaming through the window or when Yukio padded out of the bedroom and over to the couch. He did jump, though, when a pair of arms snaked their way around his shoulders.

Yukio chuckled, kissing him on the temple. "Good morning, babe. You've been up for long?"

"Morning. Uh, what time is it?"

"About eight." He yawned and scratched the back of his neck as he flopped down on the couch next to Toushiro, folding his legs underneath him. "Look what you've done to me, waking up so early." He rested his head against his shoulder. "Geez, you've already showered and everything."

Toushiro scoffed, closing the book and setting it aside. Yukio's hand instantly found his and he entwined their fingers. Toushiro looked down at their hands. "Well, I wasn't going to wait on you."

"Mean." He yawned again.

Toushiro rolled his eyes. Speaking of which, "Do you have a gym nearby?"

Yukio straightened and eyed him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Training."

There was a beat of silence before Yukio shook his head. "You're on vacation, though."

"I am. You're not."

"You're not serious."

Toushiro gave him his most serious face.

"You're like a drill sergeant or something, gods."

"I am in the military."

Yukio scowled at him for a short while then sighed heavily. "Yeah, I have a gym here."

"Show me." Toushiro was ready to hop from the couch, but stopped when Yukio groaned. "Trust me, Yukio; taking a break at this point is going to make it twice as hard when we go back."

"Now?"

Toushiro looked at the boy with his bed-head, who was still dressed in his boxer shorts, and yawning. He shook his head. "After breakfast. I just want to see it. We can start tomorrow."

Besides he had already showered and changed. It wouldn't make any sense to get all sweaty now.

Yukio let out a sigh of relief. "You had me seriously questioning my life's choices for a minute there, babe."

"You cannot really be that lazy."

Yukio grinned and settled back against Toushiro's side. "Is that my shirt?" he asked suddenly.

Toushiro looked down. It was a black t-shirt, kind of big on him, but he had no idea of how it was supposed to fit. Yukio had hung up all of Toushiro's clothes in his closet. But Toushiro couldn't remember all that had been bought for him. There was a high chance that it was Yukio's. "I don't know. It could be."

Yukio stared at him a bit longer. "That's definitely my shirt. It's hanging off you like a tent." He flicked the loose collar, something flashing in his eyes when he noticed the love-bite on Toushiro's neck.

"Sorry, I can change."

"Nah, that's okay. This is probably too early, but I like you in my clothes." He winked. "Just need to lose the pants and cardigan."

Toushiro shoved his palm against Yukio's face and got up from the couch.

...

Being head of the Tenth division meant that normally Toushiro barely had any time for himself. He was unused to relaxing, both his mind and body telling that he should be doing something constructive. His skin was itching slightly, as he sat in one of Yukio's pool chairs, attempting to continue the magazine he had started that morning. He couldn't concentrate on the words, and he had been staring at the same sentence for almost fifteen minutes now. He should have brought some paperwork with him. There were dozens of reports that he should have been going over. He was wasting so much time. He looked up at the cloudless sky and sighed. How was he supposed to spend a week like this?

"You're fidgeting again." Yukio poked his leg with his toe. Toushiro hadn't noticed that he was bouncing it.

"Sorry."

"It's not bothering me." Yukio looked up from his game console, his shades slipping down his nose. "But, you're anxious. Why?"

Toushiro huffed, tucking his legs under the chair, and leaned further into the shade cast from the huge umbrella between them. The ground was still hot on his bare feet, the smooth stones and grout had greedily absorbed the sun's heat. "I'm thinking of all the work I could be doing right now," he grumbled.

Yukio glared at him. "Seriously? It hasn't even been a day."

"I'm wasting time-"

"It's not wasting time. You're supposed to be relaxing."

"We have done nothing productive today."

Yukio shook his head. "Okay, fine. What do you wanna do?"

"W-"

"If the next word out of your mouth is 'work', so help me, Toushiro Hitsugaya."

Toushiro shut his mouth and glared at his feet.

Yukio continued, "I figured that if we went like sightseeing and did all that other touristy stuff you'd end up even more exhausted. But if lying around isn't your style then what do you wanna do? Do you _wanna_ go sightseeing?"

Toushiro turned his gaze on the pool, watching the way the turquoise water rippled. It wasn't as if this was his first time to the World of the Living, and any historical sites would be reminiscent of the Soul Society. Also, the thought of having to deal with crowds and travel was exhausting in itself. He shook his head.

"So..."

He took a deep breath, changing the subject. "You said you owned a company."

Yukio cocked his head. "Yeah, why?"

"How are you running it, when you've spent the past three months in the Soul Society? Aren't you worried something will go wrong while you're away?"

Yukio breathed out through his nose and pressed a button on his game console before setting it down on his lap. "I'm in charge, but the company doesn't like revolve around me. I have managers and other people who step in when I'm not there. They don't need my okay for every single decision, and I trust them to run things when I'm not around. They send me reports, of course, but I don't have to like breathe over their shoulders."

"But-" Toushiro cut himself off, shaking his head. He didn't understand how Yukio wasn't worrying more. Even if he trusted Rangiku and his seated members not to mess anything up, he still wanted to provide a safety net in case they did.

Yukio clicked his tongue. "You can call Rangiku, you know. Just check up if it'll ease your mind a bit."

Checking up would help, but then he'd only be confirming the amount of work he'd come back to. He sighed. "Okay, give me a minute." At least if he found out now, he could adjust his schedule. Yukio stood up when he did and followed him back inside. He slung an arm around Toushiro's shoulders and pressed his lips to his cheek.

"You worry too much, you'll get wrinkles."

Toushiro rolled his eyes.

"I was gonna say grey hair, but... yeah."

He wished he could dump him in the pool, game console and all.

...

It was near impossible to wake Yukio up in the morning. They were supposed to train today, but Toushiro was standing at the side of the bed watching as Yukio cuddled a pillow. He had tried shaking the boy, calling his name, and even turning on the light, but it was as if he was dead to the world around him. All external stimuli were null and void. Toushiro grumbled and tried again, shaking his shoulder and calling his name. Nothing.

Toushiro was at a loss. He, himself, was a light sleeper and would wake with any minor noise. Even when Rangiku was in her drunken states all he had to do was shake her or bang a cup of tea on her desk. He could try pouring some cold water on him, but he would feel guilty about ruining the sheets and mattress. But, he did have the next best option. Drawing up some _reiatsu_ to his fingertips, which was always much more difficult in a _gigai_ , he coated his fingers in a thin layer of ice. He pressed his hand to the back of Yukio's neck expecting him to wake with a jump. They boy simply grumbled and rolled over, pulling the blankets over his head. Unbelievable.

Toushiro groaned loudly. "Yukio! Get up!"

It was already almost seven. He had been trying to wake Yukio up for the past twenty minutes. He ground his teeth together. They were _going_ to train today and Yukio was _going_ to get up. He jumped back on to the bed and leaned over the boy, pulling the blabket away from his head and wracking his brain with ways to wake him up. Noise would not help him, but he seemed most responsive to touch. He poked his shoulder, not expecting anything to come of the action. Toushiro sighed, giving the wall clock a fretful glance, and tucked his feet under himself. He brushed Yukio's hair from his face, letting his fingers linger on his cheek. To Toushiro's surprise he seemed to stir slightly at this. Maybe... he felt his cheeks heat somewhat as he pressed a light kiss to Yukio's cheek then he forced his most sugar sweet voice and whispered into his ear.

"Yukio, b-babe, it's time to get up."

He grumbled softly and Toushiro grinned in success. He gently stroked Yukio's hair, brushing it from his forehead and tucking it behind his ear. Yukio was definitely waking up now. He pecked him on the tip of the nose, and smoothed his thumb across his brow.

"Wake up, babe."

Yukio yawned and rolled into his lap. Then, ever so slowly his eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning," Toushiro said brightly.

Yukio took his sweet time in waking up fully. He groggily looked around and stretched. Toushiro continued to stroke his hair as he gave one final yawn and recognition sparked in his eyes.

"I could get used to waking up like this." He smiled and grabbed Toushiro's hand from his hair and kissed his knuckles.

Toushiro scoffed. "I've only been trying to wake you up for half an hour."

Yukio grinned sheepishly and tiredly rubbed his eyes. "Told you, babe, I'm not a morning person. Why are we up so early anyway?"

"Training."

"No." He rolled off Toushiro's lap and grabbed the nearest pillow, shoving his face into it.

"Yukio!" Toushiro groaned, grabbing his shoulder and shaking it.

"I love you, Toushiro, but like... no."

Toushiro grumbled. "You act like I'm forcing you, but you asked me to train you, remember?"

"And now I'm asking you to let me sleep."

Toushiro huffed, staring at Yukio's back trying to decide if he wanted to be mean that morning.

"Are you pouting?" Yukio glanced over his shoulder, before Toushiro could come to a decision.

"What? I am not-"

Yukio sighed dramatically and rolled over again. "It's unfair that you're so cute." He pushed himself to his knees and yawned widely. "Fine, let's go."

Yukio hadn't thought that they would be working out, so he didn't ask his assistant to get Toushiro any athletic clothes. Toushiro sifted through his clothes, trying to find something that wouldn't be too restrictive. In the end he settled on a plain t-shirt and a pair of 'galaxy' print leggings which he was going to ask Yukio to return to the store. He would have just worn his joggers, but the material was too thick for his liking. He glanced at himself in one of the full-length mirrors in Yukio's closet. He may as well not even wear pants with how the leggings clung to his skin. He tried to adjust them, but nothing he did helped. If he could just get Yukio to hold his tongue, but knew that it would take nothing short of a miracle for that to happen. Needless to say, Yukio was ogling him as he came back out into to the bedroom.

"Damn," he mumbled.

"Shut up." Toushiro's cheeks heated instantly and he tried to pull the hem of his shirt down.

"How were you hiding _that_ under you uniform?"

Toushiro looked down. His legs weren't anything special, sure he had more muscle than fat, but he was scrawny all over and had knobby knees. "What are you talking about? Let's go."

Yukio smiled and hopped over to him, wrapping an arm around his waist. He didn't say anything as he hooked a finger under Toushiro's chin and gently guided his face upwards. He had tied his hair back again, and Toushiro felt his stomach flutter as Yukio's gaze bored into him. They had made out until they fell asleep again last night, but Toushiro's throat still went dry at the thought of kissing him. He met Yukio halfway, stretching up while Yukio bent down. They kissed slowly and deeply. Toushiro wrapped his arms around Yukio's neck pulling their chests flush together and threaded his fingers into Yukio's hair, bits already falling loose from the hair band. Yukio settled his hands on Toushiro's hips, gently squeezing, and kneading his fingertips into the muscle on either side of his spine. Yukio's mouth was hot and silky; Toushiro's eyes fluttered shut as it opened and closed, sucked, nipped, and licked. Everything was warm, heated even and he felt his heart hammering against his ribcage. Yukio's hands travelled lower down his sides, down to the top of his thighs, leaving goose bumps. Toushiro jumped slightly when he pressed his palms into his butt cheeks, cupping the muscle. He pulled away slightly, as Yukio stared to chuckle.

"Was this your plan all along?" Toushiro mumbled, trying to sound annoyed but failing spectacularly.

Yukio squeezed his left cheek, and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Maybe. I like had no choice; I was hypnotised."

"By my ass?"

Yukio hummed and continued to knead his butt, grabbing both cheeks, squeezing them, pulling them apart, and rolling them in his palms. "You clearly haven't seen it from my angle."

Toushiro scoffed, but it felt good. Not just Yukio touching him, but the realisation that Yukio wanted to, and found him genuinely attractive. His ass was just like the rest of him, small. Though, through all the training, it was fairly muscular and somewhat... pert. He blushed as he clung onto Yukio, twisting his hair around his fingers, feeling it slide through them like satin. He could stand to stay like this for a bit longer, but –

He spun away from Yukio's hold. "Come on, it's time for training." He smirked at the boy's pout.

Yukio's home gym had an impressive array of equipment and machines. It was situated at the back of the house, with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the pool and to the grounds beyond. Toushiro rolled his eyes when he saw a couple of horses gallop past, behind a neat fence. This boy was ridiculous.

"Horses?"

Yukio grinned. "Why not?"

"What do you do with horses?" He had instructed Yukio to warm up on the treadmill and decided to join him.

Yukio shrugged, increasing the speed on his machine. "Race them, show them, like horse stuff."

"You?"

"Not personally. I have people for that."

"Of course you do."

The gym didn't have any sort of training dummy, though. So, Toushiro decided to focus on strength and mass building this week. Yukio should have built up enough strength in his lower body by now. He glanced over to Yukio, he was wearing black, baggy basketball shorts, but his calves looked fuller than what he had started with. They could do some barbell exercises, maybe a few things with the medicine balls, and of course some squats. He didn't know what most of the machines were for and he had a feeling that Yukio only had them for show. He glanced back to the boy; he was running in time to the music he was blasting through the gym's speaker system. Toushiro believed that the genre was rock or metal or some other earthly material. Stone?

Once they were sufficiently warmed up he brought out two barbells and was considering how much weight he wanted to start Yukio off with.

"Have you ever used these?" he asked.

Yukio tilted his head. "Um... not really." Toushiro rolled his eyes, refraining from groaning. "I mean, I had a personal trainer come here before, but we usually did like cardio stuff and Pilates... and more body weight exercises with dumbbells."

Toushiro rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Why do you have a full gym?"

Yukio shrugged. "It came with the house."

He didn't know what he had expected with someone like Yukio. He selected a few weights for himself and then smaller ones for Yukio, although he would start him off with just the barbell to rile him up a bit.

"Okay, then. We'll start off with squats."

"I hate you."

Toushiro chuckled and helped him set up on the rack, just in case, then demonstrated it free form. The way Yukio's eyes followed him made something flare in his chest. Yukio eyed him up and down, lips parted slightly. Even when Toushiro set the barbell back down his eyes were still glossed over. He snapped out of it quickly enough, however, a light blush on his cheeks. Then he glanced from his barbell to Toushiro's.

"Is there a reason why I don't have any weights on mine?"

"Have you picked it up yet?"

"It can't be that-" he tried to pick it up from the rack. "Fuck."

Toushiro chuckled. He knew Yukio could lift it up with no problem; the boy was being dramatic. They hadn't training for six months for him not to be able to lift twenty kilos.

"Just do a couple without weights. I want you to get the correct form before you pull anything."

It was a good workout on Toushiro's end – not too strenuous or too mild, but Yukio was swearing by the end of it.

"My legs are going to fall off!" he yelled.

"Five more."

"I literally can't!"

"I'm doing them with you."

"Well, you're fucking shredded!"

"Come on, we'll count down."

"I can't. I actually can't."

Toushiro sighed. Yukio was frozen in the starting lunge position, the barbell sitting on his shoulders, with his shirt clinging to him with sweat. There was a slight tremor in his legs.

"Yes, you can. Let's go..." He paused, eyeing Yukio before slowly sinking down into a lunge himself. Yukio swallowed and took a deep breath before following him. "Five. See, there you go... Four, come on... Three... Two, almost there, last one... one."

Yukio dropped his weight, it landed with a deafening bang on the rubberised floor, and he collapsed next to it when they finished."I can't feel my legs," he panted.

Toushiro chuckled and crouched down next to him. "See, you did it." He smoothed a sweaty, stray lock of hair from Yukio's forehead and delivered a quick peck there. "Catch your breath then we'll cool down."

...

"No, Captain, nothing has changed since the last time you called. Yesterday," Rnaigku sighed.

Toushiro glared at nothing in particular, shifting the phone so it sat more comfortably against his ear. "I'm just making sure. If something goes wrong I'm going to be the one who has to clean it up. What does the schedule look like?"

Rangiku groaned. "We're on time."

"And the search for labour for the re-building?" He was aimlessly wondering around Yukio's sitting room, he had started near the bookshelf, now he was pacing around the couch.

"Hagita Is assembling a team as we speak. They've already mapped out a route through the _Rukongai_."

"And-"

"It's all running perfectly, Captain, why won't you believe me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Because I spent most of my early years as captain trying to keep you at your desk, and doing your share of the paperwork."

"Oh, right," she giggled. "I help where I can."

"So, are you absolutely positive that everything is fine?"

"Yeeees, Captain."

He sighed, leaning against the glass door to Yukio's personal balcony.

"Aaaanyway, how's staying with Yukio?"

He knew that Rangiku was bound to be curious about his holiday. He'd avoided all her questions during his last call. But, since she'd been doing her work, he could grant her a few details. He pushed his hair from his forehead, grimacing at the way sweat from his workout made it clump. "It's... fine."

"Just fine? Where is he now? I thought he was rich."

"He's showering; we just finished training. And yes he is rich. Very rich."

"You're training him while you're on your vacation, Captain? That's a bit unnecessary."

"Hardly, Matsumoto. He needs all the work he can get."

"I don't know... he's kinda cute the way he is. I don't think he has the face that would go with a bulky, muscular body. Do you?"

"I... uh..." He felt his cheeks heat and he slid open the door, stepping outside. "He's not going to get all bulky in six months. Besides, I don't think he has the build for it."

"Ah so he's like a movie star or model type."

Toushiro leaned against the railing, slotting one of his feet between the balusters. He looked down, not expecting to see hanging plant boxes, surrounding the outer base of the balcony. "I... maybe not. He runs a lot so his legs are really toned. So maybe someone in track and field?"

Rangiku giggled. "I like the sound of that. So what's his house like?"

"He lives on an _estate_. His house his bigger than some of the buildings in the Second Division."

"Sounds like I'll need to visit some time. I'm so jealous, Captain. I need a rich boyfriend."

Toushiro rolled his eyes. "I don't like him just for his money."

"But it's a plus right?" Rangiku chortled, and he heard the rustling of papers in the background. He should probably be letting her go back to work soon.

"I'm not sure. It's a bit overwhelming. I had no idea that people could live like this."

Rangiku chuckled. "I told you that you should read my magazines. Broaden your horizons; does he have a chrome bathtub?"

"A what?"

"I _need_ to visit him, Captain, you're terrible at this."

He sighed. "You should get back to work, Matsumoto."

"But... fine. Just, did he say how big his company was?"

Toushiro shook his head, reaching over the balcony to lightly pinch the leaf of a climbing vine. "He said something about being worth a few billion, I think."

Rangiku made a strange high-pitched squealing sound. "If your wedding ring doesn't have a diamond at least grape-sized I'm going to need a refund."

"What?" He blinked a few times, feeling his face heat further. Wedding ring? "Get back to work, Matsumoto."

...

If Toushiro had ever ridden a horse before he couldn't remember, but Yukio had assured him that it would be pretty easy. It was around mid-morning when Yukio led him to the stables. He wasn't even surprised that the boy had a riding outfit; impeccably shone boots, fitted pants, and a light blazer with leather trimming – all black of course. They hadn't done much that morning, just watched another movie, while Yukio answered a few emails from work. All was well with Rangiku, so Toushiro had forced his mind from the Tenth for a bit, despite the itching in his spine.

The stables were a ten minute walk from the house. Toushiro held back his surprise at all that was going on. It was almost as if he had left the estate. There was a sign that read 'Vorarlberna Riding School' and he could see that there were a few children and horses out in a small ring - he had no idea what the proper terminology was. Yukio said that he owned around nine horses, and boarded seven more; it was the more charitable side to his business, even though equestrianism was one of the more high-class sports. At least his boyfriend had hobbies, other than video games. He was surprised to learn that Yukio had started this on a whim.

It took them a while to get settled with a pair of horses. Toushiro was pleased to discover that he didn't have to do much and his horse was smart enough to follow Yukio's without much instruction.

"Where are we going?" he asked once they were far enough away from the stable.

Yukio grinned. "Just thought I'd give you a tour of the grounds."

"On horses?"

"Why not?"

"You are such a rich boy."

"It was either this or ATVs. At least this way we can talk without yelling."

The estate was beautifully kept. Yukio had a huge ground keeping staff and used most of the grounds for community classes. His tennis courts were free to the public, and he hired a few instructors to give lessons. He ran a plant nursery, selling rare flowers, hosting shows, and teaching kids how to garden. There was a bigger pool, which he did the same to, a golf course, a gymnasium, and a few fields for outdoor sports.

"You are really into this whole charity thing, aren't you?" Toushiro commented.

"I mean... yeah. I don't wanna be like another stuck up rich person, and, to be honest, living here all by myself can get a bit boring."

"So you turned your house into a community centre?"

Yukio chuckled, "Just most of the land around it. Trust me you need special security clearance to get like 30 meters near the actual house. But, I realised I have to be like really careful with some charities; they say they're doing good, but then they spend the money on other things. I thought I could do it myself and come up with just as good results."

"Impressive."

"And I really... don't want to end up like my parents."

Toushiro glanced at him just in time to see his expression harden. "What-"

"Anyway, there's one more thing I wanna show you."

They climbed to the highest point on the estate. And as the horses crested the small hill, Toushiro felt his cheeks heat. Laid out, in the shade of a large tree, was a picnic blanket and basket.

"Gods, Yukio," he grumbled. "What the hell is this?"

Yukio grinned widely. "Lunch."

Toushiro shook his head as they stopped the horses and jumped off. This boy was too much, Toushiro thought as Yukio removed the horses' face things (at least he knew what the saddle was) and let them graze. He looked over the estate, picking out all the different buildings Yukio had shown him earlier. No one was ever this good, well there was Bill Gates, and unless Yukio was aiming to follow in his footsteps, there was no way he could be this golden-hearted. It was a far cry from the boy he had first fought with.

"You okay?" Yukio asked walking up to him and hooking an arm around his waist.

"Yeah," Toushiro mumbled. "I just... wasn't expecting any of this."

"I'm like too good to be true?" He smirked.

"Almost," Toushiro admitted, causing Yukio's eyebrows to jump to his forehead. "Why? Why are you doing all this?"

Yukio scratched the back of his neck and guided Toushiro to the picnic blanket. "That's kind of a loaded question, babe."

They sat down next to each other, but Yukio decided that he'd rather have Toushiro in his lap.

"Sorry, but I don't believe you're a Mother Theresa."

Yukio shook his head. "How do you know these references? You really wanna know?" Toushiro nodded. "Ugh, warning, it's gonna get kinda deep. So, like, you know my parents were assholes, and you know how I ruined their company to teach them a lesson. And... honestly that was like a shitty thing to do. So many people lost their job, and I ruined a bunch of families just 'cause I was some spoilt kid trying to get back at his parents. I decided that I never wanted to do anything that shitty again. I needed to make up for it, you know?

Toushiro craned his neck to see Yukio's face. The boy was staring off into the distance and Toushiro knew that he was getting the watered down version of this story.

"So, yeah. I reached my goal of tripling my company's size and I've honestly just been lucky. We released a console a while back and sales increased like crazy. I opened this complex like at the start of this year so, I'm not sure what will work out or not, but I was serious about the giving to charity thing."

Toushiro blinked slowly. "I don't think I've ever been so wrong about a person before."

"What?"

"I thought you were selfish and childish."

"Hah, really?"

"You seemed it, with your game and how you kept on boasting about being a god. I didn't like you at all. I thought you were very annoying."

Yukio poked him in the side. "Tell me what you really think."

"I just did."

Yukio snickered. "Well, I thought you were rude."

"I've heard that before."

"You would have been cool, if you didn't like have a huge stick stuck up your ass. You were kinda cute too... are."

Toushiro shook his head. "I have another question for you."

Yukio sighed. "Okay, ask away. It's clearly sharing time."

"If you have so much going for you here, why did you ask me to train you? Learning _hakuda_ seems a bit arbitrary... and to drop it all for six months. Why?"

"Geez, hitting all the sore spots today aren't you, babe?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't-"

"It does seem kinda random doesn't it?" He sighed deeply, finding Toushiro's hand and entwining their fingers. "Okay, well I wanted to learn self-defence and I thought it would be a chance to get to know you better."

"Me?"

"Yup. Thought you were cute the first time we fought... and well I wanted to see if I stood a chance."

"So this whole training program was just a ruse to get to me?" Toushiro wasn't sure how to feel. It said something to Yukio's determination, but at the same time it was kind of unnerving.

"Sorta."

Toushiro narrowed his eyes. "And the other reason? Couldn't you defend yourself with your fullbring?"

"Ugh, why are you so persistent?" He curled forward and pressed his forehead to Toushiro's shoulder. "That's like a whole other story."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Toushiro mumbled.

"No... it's really no big deal. I just realised that don't have much physical strength, and that's like a problem when you're getting mugged."

Toushiro startled slightly. "What?"

"Why didn't I just use my fullbring? You know I thought about it, but it would have been more trouble than it was worth. Don't have those memory things like you guys, and if it got out that there was something weird about me, the media would have been all over it."

"So you let yourself get beaten up?" He couldn't keep the incredulity from his voice.

"That's harsh. The guy was huge; there was no way I could have stood up to him on my own."

"Don't you have bodyguards? Where did you even go to get mugged?"

Yukio squeezed his hand and sighed again. "Here-"

"What-"

"We had just opened up the fitness centre and I was just like checking to see how things were going. Anyway there was this guy, who probably didn't know who I was, and tried his luck."

"Yukio-"

"It wasn't serious, babe. I gave him a few bills and he ran off. It would have been bad publicity, so I kept it quiet. Why should one asshole ruin it for everyone, right? Tightened security, though."

"Were you hurt?"

"Not really, but I don't want that to happen again. I should be able to protect myself."

Toushiro squeezed his hand. "Were you hurt?"

"Sprained wrist, a couple of bruises. My ego was more hurt, though. I didn't really think of things like that. I mean, my fullbring is pretty badass, but what do I do when I have to fight a regular person and I don't have a bodyguard. What if he had had a weapon?" He sighed and shook his head. "I guess I needed a reality check."

Toushiro chewed his bottom lip. Once again, he hadn't been expecting that. Slowly he turned so that he was facing Yukio and tightly wrapped his arms around him. He felt Yukio sink into the embrace and he set his forehead back on his shoulder. "You did the best you could in that situation, and deciding to learn self-defence was a smart move. It is tricky dealing with normal humans; we are so much stronger than them. How do you really know how much power to use and is it even ethical to use it? No one is truly positive on how to go about this situation and, believe me, it has come up before. It's a very delicate circumstance, but I believe you made the right choice. Even if you did allow yourself to get hurt."

"Thanks, babe." He raised his head and pecked Toushiro's cheek. "Anyway, let's eat before the food gets cold."

But, Toushiro kissed him before they could move. Yukio's reaction was instantaneous, he wrapped his arms around Toushiro's waist, pulling them flush against each other and deepening the kiss. They did end up having to eat cold food.

...

"You should probably take a jacket, weather is supposed to be cold tonight."

Toushiro raised an eyebrow. "You do know who you're talking to, right?"

Yukio chuckled, shrugging on a coat of his own. Toushiro didn't know what it was that made his clothes look so expensive and polished. Or maybe his was just good at picking outfits, or maybe the fact that he only wore black had something to do with it. Either way, Toushiro couldn't believe how attractive Yukio was. He had not complained when Yukio had handed him a pair of tight jeans and a patterned button-up. But he grabbed a chunky-knitted cardigan despite knowing that he wouldn't need it.

Hanasaki drove them to Karakura's shopping district and while usually Toushiro hated shopping, he found that it wasn't so bad with Yukio. At least he didn't drag him around to different clothing stores and try on a million outfits. In fact they didn't even buy much: a couple of books, a scarf, a few snacks, and pair of shoes. It still took them a few hours to walk around the stores. Toushiro tucked his hand into Yukio's as they walked along the sidewalk.

"Did you want to get anything in particular?" Yukio asked, stabbing a straw into his cup of boba tea.

Toushiro tilted his head. Rangiku had asked him to get a few things – he had a list, but what he really wanted, "Do they sell pens here?"

Yukio paused in the middle of a sip, and then began laughing. "You're so cute, babe." He gave Toushiro a milky kiss on the temple. "Yeah, I think there are a few stores that would sell pens around here. We'll get you a couple packs."

"They come in packs?"

Yukio laughed again. "You're in for a surprise, babe."

Yukio lead him to a three story mall, then into a store that sold all kinds of paper, books, binders, and the sort. There was an entire wall dedicated to pens. Yukio wrapped an arm around his waist as he stared.

"What do you think?"

"There are so many; I don't know where to start."

"Let's get one of each."

"Are you insane? Where am I supposed to keep all of them?"

He moved to the wall and pointed to a pack. "Personally, I prefer the liquid ink kind. They write smoother, but the ink smudges sometimes and takes longer to dry. These ones don't smudge as much, but they're not as smooth... and these are felt tip pens; they're more like markers. These are brush tip markers, most similar to an ink brush, but you don't have to dip them. Oh and there's gel ink, and highlighters, oh and these are erasable. These are regular ball-point, pretty cheap and the ink dries out fast. Oh and there are fountain pens over there."

Toushiro blinked. He had thought that this would be easy. Why did the World of the Living have so many choices?

"What about the ones you leant me?" At least that was familiar to him.

"Those were liquid ink."

"I'll go with that then."

Yukio smiled. "Okay, blue or black ink?"

"What?"

"There's also purple and green."

"Um..."

It was only when Yukio started to laugh again, Toushiro realised that he was teasing him.

Later that night, when they got home, Yukio handed Toushiro a game controller, hopping to turn on one of his many consoles.

"Yukio?" Toushiro asked uneasily, "Are you sure?"

"You said you'd like to learn, right?"

"I've never played before."

"That's why I'm teaching you, babe."

Toushiro looked down at the controller. There were so many buttons and toggles, how was he supposed to learn this. Yukio had selected a game and moved to sit on the couch. He patted the space between his legs and Toushiro slowly went over to him.

"We're starting off with a really easy game," he said as Toushiro settled between his thighs. He gave him a quick peck on the cheek and grabbed his own controller, holding it at Toushiro's waist, with his arms on either side of him. Toushiro copied how he was holding it, having to look down three times to check that he was doing it right. Yukio was already pressing buttons without even having to look. "So, this is like a puzzle game, we have to help each other clear stages. Should be easy with that big brain of yours."

Toushiro rolled his eyes as Yukio proceeded to show him how to move around. It was pretty simple, once Toushiro got the hang of it. And after a few stages, each of increasing difficulty, it was starting to get a bit repetitive. The puzzles would have stumped most people, but figuring out puzzles was something Toushiro was very good at.

Yukio paused the game. "You wanna try something different?"

"Like?"

"Like a fighting game?"

"Against each other?"

"You seem to be getting the hang of it."

"Okay."

"I'll go easy on you, babe. It's your first time."

Toushiro rolled his eyes. Yukio picked a new game by simple pressing a few buttons and gave Toushiro a quick rundown of the game play. Minutes later they were both laughing and swearing at each other.

"Fuck, how are you so good at this?" Yukio chuckled.

"Talent." Toushiro's character delivered a swift kick to Yukio's.

"Are you just like smashing buttons? You know what? No more handicap for you!"

It was already nearing the end of the match and Toushiro somehow managed to win.

"Re-match," Yukio demanded. "I didn't know you'd be that good!"

Toushiro scoffed. "Or maybe you're not as good as you think."

"Are you sure you wanna say that, Hitsugaya?"

Toushiro felt playful; maybe it was the fact that he was actually playing games. He turned his head and stuck out his tongue at Yukio.

"Oh, it's on. Time to show you how it's done."

Yukio won the next match and all the others after that. But Toushiro didn't mind, it was fun. Feeling the way Yukio put himself into the game, sometimes even moving with his character, yelling in success, and swearing at difficulties.

"And that," he tossed his controller to the side and hugged Toushiro, "is how you play."

Toushiro scoffed, setting his controller down with more care. "You've had more time to learn than me."

"Sore loser?"

"No, just stating a fact." He leaned back against Yukio's chest, resting his hands on his wrists. They'd been playing for almost three hours. Toushiro was shocked; he hadn't thought that he would get sucked in to that extent.

"You had fun, though?" Yukio asked, resting his chin on Toushiro's shoulder.

"I did."

"Good, I'm happy." He nuzzled the side of Toushiro's neck before placing a few gentle kisses.

Toushiro sighed softly, letting his head loll to the side. His eyes fluttered shut when the gentle kisses turned into little nips and licks. Yukio kissed his way up the side of his neck, pressing his nose to the hollow behind his ear and taking the lobe between his teeth. Toushiro drew in a sharp breath, feeling a heat rise in his stomach. He reached behind him, cupping the back of Yukio's head, urging him on. Yukio ran his tongue up the shell of his ear, breathing softly on the wet flesh. Toushiro's breath hitched when Yukio began unbuttoning his shirt. He only did three buttons at the top, but it was enough for him to expose a shoulder and begin ravishing it with his tongue. Toushiro's other hand found one of Yukio's and he grasped it tightly. Yukio bit down on the side of his neck where it turned into shoulder muscle and began sucking and lapping. Toushiro knew that he was going to leave a mark, but he didn't care. He would let Yukio mark him anywhere. He pressed his back more firmly against Yukio's chest. He wanted him to touch; he wanted to feel him everywhere, to be surrounded by him.

He let out a breathy moan. "Yukio, I..."

Yukio halted, and then drew back with a final kiss. "Right," he mumbled.

Toushiro frowned. He wasn't sure what exactly he had been going to say. But he swallowed thickly and turned his head to capture Yukio's mouth. They shared a few playful kisses, nipping at each other's bottom lip. Toushiro felt the heat in his stomach slowly subside. Maybe they had been rushing things a bit. Maybe Yukio had been right to stop. After a few more kisses, Toushiro let his hand drop from Yukio's hair and he slumped against his chest, resting the back of his head against his collar bone. Yukio slowly ran a finger along his jaw line and pressed one last kiss to his mouth.

His lips were swollen and almost red, and his eyes were blown, the green almost disappearing. But he was grinning widely. "Sorry, that's gonna leave a mark." He grazed a finger up Toushiro's neck. "A big one."

Toushiro scoffed. "I don't mind."

"Seriously?"

"I don't."

"Well then. Expect more of those in the future."

Toushiro chuckled, suddenly hit by a wave of tiredness.

"Let's like get ready for bed, huh?" Yukio suggested.

Toushiro nodded and even though he was comfortable with just laying on his boyfriend he stood up and stretched. He heard Yukio give a short bark of laughter before he felt a sharp swat on his butt followed by squeezing and rubbing. He yelped softly, jumping forward and looking over his shoulder.

Yukio was smiling unabashedly. "It was like right in my face. You honestly couldn't expect me not to."

"Are you going to do that at every chance you get?"

"Yup."

...

"Hey, Captain, how's it going?" Rangiku asked in greeting.

"It's going... well," Toushiro admitted. Yukio was still sleeping, but he had gone out into the sitting room to check up on the Tenth. He sat cross-legged on the couch, twisting the tip of his sock around his finger.

"Well?" Rangiku prompted.

"That's not the reason why I called you. Is everything alright at the Tenth?"

"Yes, we're running on schedule and there haven't been any hiccups since you last called. Now details, what have you and Yukio been doing?"

Toushiro sighed.

"Are you okay? Do I need to talk to anyone?"

"No, no. Everything's been great with Yukio."

"But?"

"But nothing."

"Captain, getting anything out of you is like pulling teeth."

"If you want drama go find your own boyfriend. Don't live vicariously through me."

She giggled. "Yeah, that's not going to happen any time soon. Anyway what did you guys do yesterday?"

"We went shopping."

"Did you get what I asked?"

"Yes.

"Good. Did he force you? I thought you hated shopping."

"It was fine. He didn't make me try on clothes, like _someone_ would, or carry all his stuff."

She giggled again. "What else have you done?"

"Uh, we went horse-back riding, we had a picnic, went in his pool, watched movies, and played video games. Happy?"

"I'm so jealous, Captain. I need a vacation too. But I'm glad you're having a good time. You are enjoying yourself right?"

"Yeah."

"Soooo, you two are sharing a room, right?"

Toushiro's cheeks heated. "Yes, and?"

"And... there's only one bed, right?"

"Matsumoto-"

"Have you done it yet?"

He groaned. "That is none of your business."

"So no?"

"We haven't even... you're the only one who's mentioned that for the entire week."

"Boring, Captain. If I was on a vacation with my boyfriend in his mansion, we'd have done it all-"

"I'm not listening to this. Goodbye, Matsumoto. Get your work done."

"Bye, Captain!" she sang.

When he hung up he was positive that his entire face was beet red. He hadn't even thought about doing it with Yukio. Well maybe he had a bit, in passing thoughts, but he didn't think that... what if Yukio wanted to? What if Yukio had wanted to this entire time? He groaned and dragged his hand down his face. Damnit, Rangiku.

He and Yukio had been a couple for about five weeks. That wasn't really a long time, but they'd been dating for a little less than two months and they'd been working together for almost seven months now. Toushiro had no idea what that added up to exactly. But how was he supposed to know what was an appropriate amount of time before they did it? Yukio had been gracious, always stopping when Toushiro asked, and had never once touched him inappropriately, apart from the butt grabbing. Toushiro swallowed, the first night they had made out, however, Yukio had seemed like he was ready to try more. So, the question was whether or not Toushiro was ready. How did he know he was ready?

Before he realised what he was doing he had called Rangiku again.

She picked up immediately. "Hey, Captain, what's wrong? Did you forget something?"

He tightly gripped his big toe with his free hand. "I... um..." he took a steadying breath which did not help to steady him at all. "How... I don't know... When is..."

"Captain? Breathe and try again."

He shook his head, focusing on the fabric of the couch in the space between his legs. "How do I know when I'm ready for... um... you know."

Rangiku was silent for a few moments. "When you're actually able to say the word 'sex' maybe? But seriously, it's different for everyone. You'll know when you're ready, I guess when you feel completely comfortable around him, when you trust that he'll take care of you or won't leave or hurt you. When you feel you can say and do anything around him. I don't know, Captain. It's up to you. Don't do anything that you're not comfortable with, that's the rule I always go by."

Toushiro titled his head to the side. When he felt comfortable around Yukio. He already did. He felt comfortable talking with him, laughing, touching, kissing, and just being with each other. He almost felt giddy just thinking about lying next to Yukio, wrapped in each other's arms. He felt his mouth stretch into a smile on its own accord, and raked his hair back from his forehead with his hand. Maybe he was already ready.

"So there isn't any expected time?"

"Gods, no, Captain. And if he thinks so, drop him. Drop him right now."

He held back a snicker. "Thank you, Matsumoto. It was helpful talking to you."

"Any time, Captain. That's what I'm here for."

...

I can't believe this is our last night," Yukio groaned. "I can't go from my bed to that futon again. I'll actually die!"

Toushiro scoffed, as he rinsed his toothbrush. "No you won't."

Yukio sighed, picking up a few hairpins from a container by his sink and proceeded to pin his hair back. "I just might. I should like bring a mattress pad this time."

"You are ridiculous."

"I can get you one too. It would like help your back."

"My back is just fine."

"Sure, Mr. Grumpy."

Toushiro set his toothbrush down in the holder and glared at Yukio's reflection. Yukio chuckled as he picked up a tub of lotion from an impressive amount of tubs of lotion. Toushiro was fascinated by his night-time routine. He didn't even think Rangiku went through this much with her hair and skin.

"We should have done something special today," Yukio said as he dabbed a white cream on his cheeks.

Toushiro shrugged. "It was fine."

"I guesso, but this was our last day before we're thrown back to the like fourteenth century?"

"What did you want to do?"

"I dunno."

"We did have a fancy dinner."

"I guess that counts, but still." He recapped the tub and examined his face in the mirror. Tosuhiro folded his arms across his chest as he watched him. "I dunno, dinner and a movie don't seem that special."

"It was enjoyable."

"Yes, but not like special."

"I don't know what you want, Yukio." Toushiro sighed, "I'm going to bed."

Yukio slapped his butt as he passed. "I'm almost done."

As Toushiro slipped under the sheets, his conversation with Rangiku the other day replayed in his head. Did Yukio mean special in that way? What if he did, but he didn't feel it was his place to ask. He had already shown that he was reluctant to push much. But what if... he sighed softly, shaking his head. He was thinking too much about this. He had already decided that he was ready for whenever the time came. There was no need to rush this. But maybe Yukio was right in wanting end their vacation in a, literal, bang. He felt himself blush slightly. They were going back to work next week, neither of them would have as much time with each other as they did now. Toushiro knew that he would get swept up in paperwork as soon as he set foot in the _Seireitei_. They may not get such a chance again. And the walls in the barracks were uncomfortably thin. At least he had the luxury of having his own living complex, be it small and plain, but someone was bound to notice if he and Yukio spent the night together. It would not be appropriate. He swallowed, yes, now would be the best time. And he could also put an end to Yukio's pouting that night. Maybe. A rush of nervousness swept through his body, and he clutched the comforter to his chest. Was it normal to think this much about it? To try to add logic? So far this relationship with Yukio had thrown logic to the wind.

He heard the bathroom light click off and the soft padding of Yukio's feet on the floor. Toushiro rolled over to watch him climb into bed. He was wearing silk boxer-briefs that night, because why the hell not, and Toushiro watched as the muscles of his thighs contracted. He shaved, and at first Toushiro had thought it weird, but then he realised just how much work Yukio put into taking care of himself, and he couldn't imagine him not shaving or waxing or whatever he had called it. Yukio lay down next to him, a pecked the tip of his nose.

"So are we really going to bed now like a couple of old men?"

"It's one am."

"I know, but-"

Toushiro shook his head, hair rustling against the pillow, and threw an arm over Yukio's waist.

"I'm not tired, are you?" he asked, returning the embrace.

"Not in particular." Toushiro wiggled closer.

"We could watch another movie?"

Toushiro hummed and pressed his lips to his chin. "We already watched two."

Yukio pecked his forehead in response. "What about like a game?"

Toushiro wrinkled his nose, and smoothed a lock of Yukio's hair behind his ear.

"Start a TV series?" he traced Toushiro's jaw line.

Toushiro sighed softly as placed a couple soft kisses to Yukio's cheek. Just how exactly was he supposed to bring this up?

"Or..." he hummed, raking his fingers through the hair at the nape of Toushiro's neck. "Do you wanna like make out?"

Toushiro scoffed as Yukio grinned cheekily.

"What? You're all over me tonight."

Okay, it was a step in the right direction. Toushiro breathed out through his nose and pecked the corner of Yukio's mouth. Yukio pulled him closer, splaying his fingers between his shoulder blades. Their chests met in a breathless huff. Toushiro grinned, capturing Yukio's mouth and cupping the back of his head with the hand that wasn't trapped between them. Yukio returned the kiss with twice as much passion. And Toushiro felt a familiar heat spread all over his body. He clung to Yukio like his life depended on it, like by kissing him he could rejuvenate himself. Yukio's hand dropped from his between his shoulders to the dip of his spine. He dug his fingers into the dimples there, pulling Toushiro flush against him. Toushiro gasped softly when Yukio kneaded his butt. He gripped Yukio's shoulders tightly, fingers digging into the not-quite-firm muscle.

They broke apart panting. Yukio's face was red and blotchy, and Toushiro was sure that his was the same. Yukio licked his bottom lip, eyeing Toushiro with darkened, green eyes. Toushiro felt shy all of a sudden, and burried his face against Yukio's chest. He felt him chuckle and peck him on the temple. Tosuhiro chewed the inside of his cheek as he wiggled closer. The hand on his butt grabbed a palm-full of muscle and then dropped to his thigh, hoisting his leg over his hip. Toushiro drew in a sharp breath and looked up to see Yukio grinning. He pressed his lips to Yukio's jaw, feeling the boy's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. He let his hand fall from his shoulder and smoothed the shirt across his chest. Yukio's breath hitched, and, feeling uncharacteristically bold, he took the tip of his ear lobe between his teeth while he palmed Yukio's chest. The boy moaned softly, fingers going back to run up and down Toushiro's spine. He felt as if his entire body was trembling from Yukio's touch and nosed the hollow behind his ear.

"Babe, if we keep this up," his voice was soft and breathy.

"I know," Toushiro replied softly. "You said you wanted this night to be special-" his sentence ended in a yelp as Yukio pushed him flat on his back, moving to hover over him. He pinned Toushiro's wrists to the mattress and was about to kiss him deeply when he caught himself.

"A-are you sure?"

Toushiro swallowed and nodded. "I'm sure."

Yukio stared at him for a short while. Toushiro couldn't tell what was going on in his head, but then he dipped down to give him a playful kiss. "You're so freaking hot, babe," he mumbled pulling back for a second before kissing him again.

Hot. Hot not cute. Toushiro's face burned. He pulled at Yukio's grip on his wrists and the boy let him go. Toushiro immediately wrapped his arms around his waist, eagerly pulling them together. Yukio fell against him with a soft 'oof', but he propped himself up on his elbows as to not crush him. Their kiss was deep and hot, both drinking in each other as if dying of thirst. He nipped on Toushiro's bottom lip gently prying his mouth open and Toushiro's obeyed, moaning softly. He held onto Yukio's waist, pressing his fingers into his skin, wanting to pull him closer and feel every inch of him. Yukio grabbed his thigh, tugging it up to wrap Toushiro's leg around his waist. Toushiro gasped, breaking from the kiss to grab at Yukio's back. His mouth was tingling, lips rubbed raw. But they weren't going to stop.

* * *

 **The explicit version is posted to my Tumblr - Link is in my profile. I don't post any MA stuff here so head on over there if you'd like to read it.**

 **Annnnnd, looks like there's one more chapter in store for this fic. It's going to end at four, I swear.**

 **\- Mymomomo**


	4. Chapter 4

Toushiro stumbled from the warmth of the bed and Yukio's arms the next morning. Even after what they had done last night, he still couldn't find it in himself to be idle while the day began. He wiggled out of Yukio's arms, and threw back the sheets. Yukio grumbled softly, yanking a pillow to his stomach and curling around it. The room was slightly chilled from the AC, and Toushiro scoffed as Yukio snuggled deeper into the sheets. Toushiro, despite being naked, was unaffected by the temperature, even though the floor was cold against his feet. He leaned over Yukio, brushing his hair from his face and pressing his lips to his temple before heading to the bathroom. They were due to go back to the Soul Society today, and he had yet to try out the bathtub.

He managed to figure out which knobs to turn to get the water flowing and added a few drops of Yukio's sweet-smelling soap. As he waited for the tub to fill he picked up his toothbrush. He had expected to feel a bit more tired this morning considering last night's activities, but the only thing he felt was a warm almost giddying feeling. Even though he had been preparing himself mentally for sex, he was somewhat relieved that Yukio wanted to talk a bit more before they took things further. He wasn't sure if Yukio knew that he was a virgin, but regardless they did need to talk some more. Still, last night had been incredible, if the amount of love-bites on his neck and collar bones had anything to say about it. And, he tilted his head to the side to for a better view, was that a bite mark? He washed out his mouth and brought his fingers to his neck, rising onto his toes and leaning over the sink. The mark there was larger than the others that littered his neck and shoulders. It was already a deep purple, but in the centre were clotted over teeth-marks. His eyebrows rose as he prodded the mark. He vaguely remembered Yukio biting him when he, um, last night. His cheeks turned red.

"That's a view I could get used to." He jumped slightly when Yukio's reflection appeared in the mirror. He leaned against the door frame, unashamed in his nakedness. Toushiro felt his skin prickle slightly, and he didn't have to look to know that Yukio was staring at his butt. Toushiro shook his head, rocking back on his heels and glancing over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. Yukio grinned cheekily. "Good morning, babe." He came up behind Toushiro and pulled him to his chest, wrapping his arms around his waist and dipping his head to kiss his shoulder.

"What are you doing up?"

Yukio shrugged. "The fuck if I know."

Toushiro rolled his eyes and butted the back of his head against Yukio's chest. Yukio chuckled softly, swallowing a yawn and Toushiro rested his hands on top of his wrists. "Well, good morning in that case."

He looked back to the mirror, their eyes meeting in the reflection. "Actually, I like this view better." He tightened his arms around Toushiro's waist, and set his chin against the crook of his neck. Toushiro winced as Yukio pressed against the bite mark, causing the boy to draw back and examine his neck.

"Ah, shit, did I do that? Sorry, didn't mean to break the skin."

"It's fine," Toushiro mumbled. It didn't hurt, and he had had much worse. A bite mark was nothing compared to getting a leg cut off. Yukio pressed a light kiss to the middle of the bruise in apology.

"Sorry, should have like warned you." His cheeks flushed slightly. "I like biting." Toushiro raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't seem to mind, the way you were holding onto me." He indicated a series of finger-sized bruises on his bicep.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, babe. I like your strength, it's sexy."

Toushiro rolled his eyes before pulling from Yukio's arms and glancing to check if the tub was filled enough. He turned off the faucet and tested the temperature, swirling a handful of foam around his wrist.

"Oh, are we having a bath?" Yukio asked excitedly.

Toushiro hesitated for a second. There would be no harm in bathing together, not after last night anyway. Besides, they were both standing in the bathroom naked, and who knew when they would be able to do this again. He felt himself blush for the hundredth time that morning.

"Get the towels."

Yukio grinned widely, crossing the bathroom with wide, quick steps and scooped Toushiro up in his arms, capturing his lips before he had time to protest. He threw his arms around Yukio's neck to stop himself from falling over, but only managed to crash into the boy. Yukio braced his feet on the shaggy bathmat and wrapped his arms around Toushiro's waist. Toushiro sighed into the kiss, giving in despite the rough start. His hands found their place in Yukio's hair as the heat of his mouth took over his senses. Yukio intended the kiss to be deep and slow; his mouth moved as if to suck Toushiro in, and Toushiro had no objections, tilting his head for a better angle. Yukio dragged his hands up and down Toushiro's back, pressing his nails into the muscle and sending electrifying jolts up his spine. He leaned further into Yukio, arching his back. His skin was so smooth and warm against his, even his hands were soft. Hands that were now trailing down his sides, across the dip in his spine, then made their home on his ass. He smiled into the kiss; he was wondering how long it would take Yukio to do that. He began mercilessly kneading, grabbing handfuls of muscle. Toushiro's breath hitched and Yukio drew back slightly, capturing his bottom lip between his teeth and tugging gently. Toushiro soothed the spot on his lip with his tongue after Yukio released it with a pop. They stared at each other for a moment and Toushiro felt his heart rate pick up pace as he stared into those green, green eyes. His hair was mussed from sleep, the hairpins barely holding on as wild, pale locks stuck up every which way. He moved one of his hands from the back of Yukio's head, to smooth away a lock of hair that was dangling between his eyes. He slid one of the hair pins, flicking it behind them, and raked his fingers through his hair. Yukio's eyes fluttered shut and he pressed his head into Toushiro's palm. There was another small mole on his left ear lobe; Toushiro catalogued it for later.

"Maybe we should get into the bath before the water goes cold?" Toushiro suggested softly.

"Or we could just like reheat it later," Yukio answered with a devious smirk.

Toushiro was about to argue, but Yukio stopped him by roughly groping his ass. He nearly lifted him right off his feet, and crashed their pelvises together. Toushiro squawked, grabbing onto Yukio's shoulders. But now his heart was racing and a familiar heat was building in his stomach. Yukio was chewing his bottom lip, his eyes sparkling mischievously. Fine, two could play at that game. He grabbed a handful of Yukio's ass, grinning smugly when the boy hissed and jumped. It was rather soft, like the rest of him, muscle under a layer of fat. It jiggled when Toushiro grabbed it. Yukio seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment and Toushiro began to worry that he had crossed a line. He withdrew his hands, only to have Yukio grab one of his wrists.

"I was not expecting that, babe," he said then winked. "Like it when you're handsy."

"You are insufferable." He let his hands settle on Yukio's hips.

"That's not what you said last night."

"You weren't insufferable last night."

...

It felt almost strange to be back in the _Seireitei_. He had rather enjoyed his week off with Yukio, although, he would never admit it aloud. They had arrived back on Sunday evening and things around the Tenth were moving at a lazy amble. Come Monday morning, however, Toushiro would hit the ground running. He headed to his quarters intending to prepare for the day tomorrow, Yukio in tow.

"Actually, do you wanna like go get dinner?" Yukio asked, suddenly grabbing his hand. "You know, before you're too busy to even breathe."

The corners of Toushiro's mouth flickered upwards. "Okay."

Yukio bounced on the balls of his feet. "Awesome I'm literally starving. Where do you wanna go?"

"You pick."

Yukio wrinkled his nose as he twined their fingers together. "Fair enough, if you chose we'd end up in the one place that like only sold rice."

Not many people were around that night; their walk to the restaurant was fairly quite. Toushiro nodded in greeting at the few soldiers that they met on their way.

"So I'm guessing like not many people know about us." Yukio said, glancing over his shoulder at the _shinigami_ who had just passed them.

"What do you mean?"

"That we're a couple. You didn't notice that he was staring at our hands?"

Toushiro glanced down to their clasped hands. It wasn't a secret, but it wasn't like he was going to make an announcement to the whole of the _Gotei_ Thirteen. "They'll find out when they find out. I'm sure with Matsumoto, it won't take long."

Yukio chuckled. "So you don't want to keep this a secret?"

"If I did, I wouldn't have let you mark me. Did you want to?"

Yukio seemed startled. "Oh, no... I guess things are different here. You'll see what I mean in a few days."

...

He expected Yukio to be late for training that morning, and didn't bat an eye when the boy came scurrying into the training yard still yawning. Toushiro folded his arms across his chest in an effort not to look as amused as he felt.

"Mornin', babe," Yukio muttered, coming up to Toushiro to give him a tired kiss.

"Good morning."

"It's not good yet. You know how hard it is for me to wake up, can we like have lessons at a more reasonable time?"

"No." Toushiro had never seen Yukio look more disgruntled. "We're going on a run today, since last week was predominantly mass building."

Yukio nodded, stretching his arms above his head. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt today, and gave Toushiro an excellent view of his arm muscles as he stretched. He led him to the same waterfall they had sparred at before. Yukio's speed had increased since the last time and they made it there a bit sooner than Toushiro had intended. The sound of the water flowing was soothing, as Toushiro took a few deep breaths through his nose. Yukio had wandered to the edge of the pool, hands on his waist as he caught his breath. Maybe Toushiro had pushed a little too hard during the run. He, himself, felt slightly winded. He glanced at the sun, which was just starting to rise and send warming rays above the treetops, and decided that they had time for a short break. If they ran overtime he could always get them back with _shunpo_ , and he knew that fullbringers had their own variation.

Yukio had removed his socks and shoes and was dipping his feet into the pond. Toushiro shook his head at how he had assumed that they would take a break before he had said anything.

"That's cold," Yukio hissed, drawing back his foot and hopping slightly.

"What did you expect? It runs from high in the mountains."

He stuck out his tongue. "So are we gonna like spar again?"

"Yes. Same rules as before; land a clean hit."

Yukio clicked his tongue, but moved to a clear spot on the bank of the pool. He set his shoes down on a rock and turned to face Toushiro, holding up his fists in the defensive way Toushiro had taught him. "Okay, let's go."

Yukio had improved since the last time they had spared here. Toushiro found himself having to concentrate a bit more and move just the smallest bit faster to avoid his blows. Yukio's eyes shone with concentration, as he examined Toushiro's movements and evaluated ways to attack. Toushiro felt his mouth spread into a satisfied grin as he blocked one of his punches. Maybe it was time to take things up a notch. He changed his stance slightly, shifting from defensive to offensive. In a normal fight that move would have been careless and leave him wide open to attacks, but Yukio was still learning. Green eyes widened when he realised what Toushiro had done. He quickly put some space between them and brought his arms up to protect his body. Good, Toushiro thought, he had picked up on the change in position pretty quickly and acted accordingly. He sent a punch at Yukio's shoulder, grinning when the boy blocked it and took another step back. He tested Yukio's responses to a series of jabs from either side, pulling back when he managed to slip past his defences so as not to hurt him. He tried a few kicks next, swinging his leg at his side. Yukio spun away at the very last second, using the side of his arm to stop it from lading. His hissed loudly as Toushiro's foot came into contact with his arm, and drew back further shaking it off. Toushiro winced internally, there was going to be bruised tomorrow. He allowed Yukio a few moments respite, before swopping in again.

Within a few seconds he managed to slip past with a punch to his sternum. It would have been a painful blow if he hadn't pulled it at the last second. He shook his head; Yukio could do better than that. He adjusted his speed again and darted to Yukio's back as he neared the edge of the water. A few more steps and he would have fallen in. They also needed to work on spatial awareness it seemed. Yukio spun around, fists up and darted away from the pool. Toushiro followed, throwing another punch that would have easily landed on Yukio's shoulder if he had let it.

"You're getting sloppy," he chided.

Yukio clenched his jaw. "I thought you would go easy on me."

"I _am_ going easy on you. I could have won this match at least five times in the past few minutes."

"You're exaggerating."

Toushiro raised an eyebrow. Jumping closer to Yukio, he pivoted on his left leg, sending his right towards Yukio's head. He stopped his kick centimetres from Yukio's ear, before the boy even had time to react. Yukio blinked a few times, obviously stunned.

"See." Toushiro struggled to keep the smugness out of his voice.

Yukio chuckled softly. "So you can do a split."

Toushiro raised an eyebrow, glancing at his leg which was still raised high in the air, and sighed. He lowered it to rest his heel on Yukio's shoulder. "Concentrate. In a real fight you would have been severely injured." He swung his leg to the side, rotating his hip as he lowered it to the ground.

"Maybe I could concentrate a bit more if my opponent wasn't so hot."

Toushiro rolled his eyes, even as he felt himself blush; this was not the time to be flirting. "That is hardly any fault of mine." Yukio grinned as Toushiro sighed and shook his head. "Let's go again. Focus on your form."

...

Toushiro had expected Rangiku to hound him with questions as soon as he set foot into the office. But it was a Monday morning, so it was also expected that she would be late. He was able to go through the stack of completed reports from the last week before she ambled in. There was nothing amiss with the reports, and he felt a bit of tension leave him. He hadn't realised that he was holding onto the anxiety until it left him. He heard Rangiku before he saw her, and prepared himself as her eyes landed on him as soon as she set foot through the door.

"Captain!" she sang, her eyes already sparkling. "Welcome back! How was your holiday?"

He sighed softly, setting his pen down and tapping his papers into a neat stack. He was going to comment on the time but, he knew that reprimanding her would be useless. "It was... enjoyable."

"There are so many other adjectives you could have used," she mumbled, shaking her head. "But anyway, details, how was Yukio?"

"He was... fine."

She threw her hands up into the air and stomped over to his desk. She pulled his chair away from the table, legs screeching loudly, spun it so he was facing her, and braced her hands on the arm rests. "Fine? Fine! He is the love of your life; you spent a week alone together. 'Fine' does not cut it."

He felt his cheeks heat. "I wouldn't go that far, Matsumoto-"

"Ugh, boyfriend, he's your boyfriend. Now tell me what you guys did."

"I already told you over the phone."

She hung her head, hair cascading over her shoulders. "Cut me some slack. Nothing has been happening around here. Nothing. I feel like I'm going crazy. And you," her head snapped back up and she stuck her index finger to his nose. "You are not going to deny me the only entertainment I've had in months. Now spill. What did you do?"

"Why don't you just get your own boyfriend?"

"Don't wanna."

Toushiro breathed out heavily through his nose. "We really didn't do all that much. "

"The hickies on your neck say otherwise."

Toushiro's eyes widened and his hand flew to cover the mark on his neck. Rangiku smiled brightly. "Okay, fine, we made out a few times." He glared at a spot over her shoulder, the next thing he knew he was swept up in a rib-crushing hug.

"I'm so happy for you, Captain! Hope that meant you were able to relax a little. You do look a bit better than before you left."

He rolled his eyes, but inside he was smiling. He did feel better, definitely more refreshed. Yukio came into the office later and no sooner had he greeted Toushiro with a quick kiss had Rangiku pounced on him, dragging him off to squeeze all the little details out of him.

Though, it didn't seem like she had to. The next day Yukio waltzed into the office brandishing what looked like a small laptop screen. Rangiku's eyes zoomed on him like a vulture, although, Toushiro had to hand it to her for being able to stay in her seat.

"Well, we're like official now," he said, sliding the device onto Toushiro's desk. "Good morning, by the way." He pecked Toushiro's forehead.

"Morning," Toushiro answered softly. "What do you mean?"

Yukio pointed at his device. The screen showed a news article, albeit a very short one. He skipped over the headline when he recognised a picture of himself and Yukio holding hands and walking along the sidewalk. He was laughing, probably at something Yukio had said, while Yukio – arms ladened with shopping bags and holding his bubble tea, was grinning so wide his eyes were crinkled at the corners. It was taken from across the street, and looked like the photographer had been hiding. Toushiro frowned, that was the day he and Yukio had gone to the shopping centre. He scanned back up to the headline; 'Youngest billionaire in Japan lands himself hot boyfriend'. There were a few other pictures, most of them of them just walking, and entering and exiting various stores. But Toushiro wasn't sure what to feel about it. Were they being stalked?

"Yukio, what is this?"

Yukio scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry, should have warned you that this was going to happen." Rangiku was craning her neck, practically standing up to see what was going on. Toushiro sighed and held the device out to her. "There's this things called paparazzi-"

"Oh my gods!" Rangiku exclaimed, nearly jumping over her desk. "You made it to the tabloids?! Just who the hell are you, Yukio?"

Yukio blushed slightly, looking off to the side. "I've only been in the news like a few times, just for like tech stuff. But I guess this made it to the gossip column." He sighed deeply. "Should have known. That mall is where celebs usually go."

Ranigku's eyes lit up anyway. "You're dating a celebrity, Captain?! We have a celebrity in the Tenth!"

Yukio blushed harder. "No, I'm not. I mean, things just like happen once your bank account hits a certain number."

"Can I borrow this?" She asked, disregarding his denial. Toushiro could see her preparing to run, and turned to warn Yukio.

"I guess so-"

"Matsumoto, no-" But she was already scampering out of the door. Toushiro sighed heavily. "Now that article is going to be all over the _Seireitei_."

"Oh... well shit." Yukio ducked his head. "We still aren't like planning on keeping this a secret, right?"

Toushiro shook his head, reaching up to push Yukio's bangs from his face. "No. I suppose this is one way of getting the news out."

How Rangiku managed to get the pictures off of Yukio's device and print them was a mystery. A special edition of The _Seireitei_ News Magazine was placed on his desk the next morning, and of course he and Yukio were on the front page. The Ninth must have worked overtime to get this done on such short notice. He shook his head, pushing the magazine to the side. He could deal with that later when the inevitable summons form Kyoraku came. Yukio was, after all, his subordinate. And while workplace relationships were not prohibited, there was some paperwork and other protocols that had to be addressed. He was hoping that he would have been able to complete it on his own time, but now that didn't seem to be an option. The hell-butterfly came an hour before lunch. Of course, Kyoraku would have been punctual for something like this.

Kyoraku did a great job of intimidating Yukio before he realised that they weren't crossing any boundaries. Kyoraku had reacted exactly how Toushiro had expected him to. He congratulated them and made several inappropriate jokes about their early-morning training sessions, before sending them on their way. At least he trusted Toushiro not to let his relationship distract him from his work, or maybe he wanted him to be distracted more. It was hard to tell with him sometimes. He had even admitted to knowing about them before and it was part of the reason why he had sent Toushiro to the World of the Living. He and Rangiku were drinking buddies, so it made sense that he would know. It was a small mercy that he had acted – somewhat – mature about it.

They walked back to the Tenth hand-in-hand; Yukio's step was a bit lighter. Rangiku was lying on her back on the couch, holding a copy of the magazine and giggling wildly. Yukio raised an eyebrow as Toushrio went over to the couch and snatched the magazine from her.

"I leave you for less than an hour and you're already wasting time," he grumbled.

Rangiku sat up smiling. "Sorry, Captain, I'm just so happy I can't concentrate."

"Why? You already knew we were dating." He sighed as he leaned against the front of his desk. Yukio stood next to him, loosely wrapping an arm around his waist.

Rangiku moved to kneel on the couch, resting her elbows on the top of the backrest. "Yeah, but you wouldn't believe how many bets I won today."

He didn't like the sound of that. "Bets?" He chewed the inside of his cheek.

"You were betting to see if we would like get together?" Yukio asked, a smile playing on his lips.

"Among other things."

"Like?"

"Well..."

"This better be appropriate, Matsumoto," Toushiro growled, despite of his forming blush.

She smiled innocently. "Mostly. The most popular one was if you were gay or not." Yukio snickered as Toushiro blanched. "I won of course, but you would never have guessed how many people were hoping you were straight."

"But... you _know_ I'm gay." In fact, she had played a rather large part in helping him come to terms with his sexuality.

"Yeah, but no one else did. I tried to spread the word, but there were _so_ many people who didn't believe me."

Toushiro shook his head. "That was unfair, Matsumoto."

"Turn doubt into profit, that's what I always say."

"You have never said that before."

Yukio was cracking up beside him, trying and failing to hide his laughter behind his hand. "Oh gods, you weren't out yet?"

Toushiro grumbled. "I don't see why I need to broadcast my sexual preferences."

Yukio squeezed his waist. "What else?"

"Well there was a pool on how long it would take you two to get together. Another on if you would or not, or if Toushiro was going to kill you by the end of your stay here."

Yukio was smirking as Toushiro felt his ears heat. "Why is my personal life of so much interest to you people?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Captain; we have twice as many betting pools on Byakuya Kuchiki."

Toushiro sighed loudly.

"Oh, which reminds me, there's still one going. Have you two had sex yet?"

Toushiro eyes widened and he felt heat rise from his face and ears. Even Yukio chuckled a bit uncomfortably.

"Now, _that_ is a personal question," Yukio said, adjusting his collar.

"So, no."

Toushiro groaned in exasperation."Matsumoto-"

"Just checking. Not to worry, I haven't lost anything yet."

"That is _not_ what I'm worrying about!"

...

Toushiro never would have believed it if he didn't see it with his own eyes; there were people at the training ground at five am on a Wednesday Morning. There weren't many, just a few people sparring, but after over four months of having the whole yard to himself, it seemed suspicious. He selected the corner furthest away from them and began doing to warm-up stretches while he waited for Yukio. The boy came jogging up to him fifteen minutes later.

"Is there like something going on that I don't know about?" Yukio asked, eyeing the other _shinigami_.

"That's what I would like to know," Toushiro answered. "We'll just ignore them for today. I can't imagine that this time will get any more popular."

Yukio shrugged, leaning down to give Toushiro a morning kiss. Toushiro was sure he was being paranoid, but he felt like the other _shinigami_ were watching them.

After Yukio had warmed up they faced each other ready to spar. By then he was positive that they were being watched. He would definitely be reprimanding them later today. His personal life was not on display for their entertainment. If they weren't here to train they wouldn't be allowed in the training yard at this time. He made a mental note of their faces, quickly trying to put a name to them, but he was drawing blank.

"Ready?" Yukio asked him.

He jerked slightly turning his attention back to him. "Yeah, same rules as always – at least one clean hit."

He nodded and Toushiro drew back on the defensive while keeping an eye on the strange _shinigami_. Yukio did well in ignoring them, focusing instead on his attacks. But, Toushiro noticed with annoyance, he was holding himself tighter than usual. His movements seemed a bit jerky, and his muscles were overly contracted. He was uncomfortable with the attention.

"Relax, Yukio," he said. "You're going to hurt yourself if you keep your muscles that tight."

He nodded, taking a deep breath and attempting to shake himself out. He still couldn't get over the audience, however. He began overcompensating with wide movements when his punches fell short, and began to shift his weight around too much in an effort to move faster.

Toushiro clicked his tongue in irritation, ready to ask the other _shinigami_ to leave. Sparring while Yukio was like this would be no good to either of them. He blocked a punch to his chest, grabbing Yukio's wrist and straightening his arm into the correct form. Yukio blushed slightly when he realised his mistake.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"It's okay," Toushiro replied. "Forget them, concentrate on me."

He nodded once more, attempting to block out the onlookers. Yukio had never struck him as one to be self-conscious. He was always so confident. The only time Toushiro had seen him unsure of himself was when he had challenged some of the Tenth's men to a sparring match. He narrowed his eyes. Maybe that was it, Yukio still wasn't very confident in his _hakuda_ skills. Did he think he was making a fool of himself in front of the other _shinigami_? He spun to the side, avoiding a kick to his ribs and causing Yukio to grunt in frustration. No, they weren't going to get anywhere like this. The other _shinigami_ needed to leave. He ground his teeth in annoyance; this was inappropriate behaviour. Never in his time as a _shinigami_ had someone come to the training yard just to ogle someone else. They were not even pretending to train now. He glared at them from the corner of his eyes, almost doing a double-take when he saw one of them holding up a small camera.

Without thinking he spun on his heel, turning around to give them a piece of his mind. He heard Yukio stumble behind him.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snarled. The _shinigami_ froze in place, at least having the decency to look ashamed now that they had been caught. "This area is exclusively for training. If you are not here for that, then I must ask you to leave." Yukio rested a hand on his shoulder, leaning heavily against him.

"W-we were just about to start, Captain Hitsugaya." One of them stammered as the other attempted to hide the camera in his _kosode_.

"Were you?" He narrowed his eyes. "So, what were you doing for the past half hour we've been here? I'm going to need you to leave."

"Sorry, Captain, we-"

"That wasn't a request."

The _shinigami_ paled slightly and hesitated looking at one another. They knew better than to deny an order from a captain, however, and sullenly left the training ground. Toushiro glared at their retreating forms until he could no longer see them. The only _shinigami_ he knew that had access to cameras were members of the Ninth division, or the _Shinigami_ Women's Association. The Women's association would never send non-members to do their work for them, so he would be speaking to Hisagi later. He didn't care if people were interested in his personal life, he would not stand for an invasion of privacy. He folded his arms across his chest and turned back to Yukio.

The boy scoffed, shifting his weight to one leg. "You savage cabbage."

"They deserved it. Are you okay?"

"I... uh... yeah, just like rolled my ankle when you suddenly turned like that."

Toushiro looked at his foot, instantly knowing that it was something more serious since he wasn't putting any weight on it. He sighed softly, helping Yukio over to the patio to sit down.

"Does it hurt?" he asked as he knelt down to remove Yukio's sneaker and sock.

"A bit," Youkio answered, wincing when Toushiro rotated the joint.

With his limited medical knowledge, Toushiro at least could tell that it was a sprain. It was actually impressive that he had managed a sprain on his own. Though, with how he had been throwing himself around it wasn't that surprising. He had most likely just lost his balance when he had moved out of the way, and landed wrong or too forcefully on his already over-extended leg. He gently prodded the area that was beginning to swell. Yukio grunted softly, flinching. Toushiro sighed heavily. If it hadn't been for those nosey _shinigami_ this wouldn't have happened. Or if he hadn't turned so suddenly –

"So doctor, can I like keep the foot?" Yukio asked brightly.

Toushiro rolled his eyes. "Looks like a minor sprain." It was within his power to heal, and that made him feel slightly better. He concentrated on the correct form of healing _kid_ _ō_ and his fingertips began to glow green.

"I didn't know you could do that," Yukio observed as Toushiro worked on his ankle.

"Seated officers are supposed to know basic healing _kid_ _ō_ ," he answered. "It comes in handy for minor injuries like this, but I wouldn't trust myself to heal anything much more serious. I'll still want to you rest your leg for a few days."

"So, we're done?"

"I suppose so." When he was finished with the _kid_ _ō_ he asked Yukio to move his ankle around. There was no swelling, or bruising, but it still was a bit tender.

"You know, I don't think I can make it back to my room alone..."

He was smirking. Toushiro shook his head; there was still almost forty-five minutes of training time and he didn't have anything else to do. He helped Yukio to stand only to be met with a pair of lips against his.

"Thanks, babe."

Toushiro blushed. "It was partially my fault." Yukio nudged him with his elbow. "But, you were off today. I know you can do better than this, Yukio. It doesn't matter if someone is watching. They're not expecting anything of you; there was no reason to choke up like that."

Yukio hung his head slightly. "I know, I just like... I don't know, like I should be better than I am."

They left the training ground, Toushiro's arm around Yukio's waist. "I've given you this lecture before-"

"Yeah, doesn't change the fact that I still can't get like one hit in."

"I am a captain for a reason."

"Cocky much?"

"Just a fact." Yukio nudged him again.

A part of Toushiro wanted to head into work early, but Yukio tackled him to his futon, using his body to pin him to the mattress. It was covered with a replica of the fluffy, black blanket from his bed in the Living World, and just as many pillows. Though, Toushiro wasn't complaining; his own futon wasn't nearly as soft and they hadn't shared a bed since their return to the _Seireitei_. It was nice to have Yukio's body over him once more.

"I missed this," Yukio mumbled, nuzzling against Toushiro's neck. Toushiro tightened the arm that was wrapped around his waist in agreement. "Why can't we sleep in the same room again?"

"It's unprofessional."

"But now people actually know we're dating. I mean, it's like kinda expected."

"It's still unprofessional." Yukio pouted, exaggeratedly sticking out his bottom lip. "But maybe on weekends- "

"Tonight."

"I can't tonight."

"I'm injured; someone needs to take care of me."

Toushiro rolled his eyes. "You really are insufferable."

Yukio grinned before leaning forward and pecking Toushiro on the lips.

"I've been getting a lot of questions about you."

Toushiro raised an eyebrow, as he trailed random patterns across Yukio's side. "Have you?"

"Yup," Yukio answered simply, smoothing Toushiro's hair from his forehead.

"Are you going to expand on that, or do I have to be more specific?"

Yukio pecked his forehead and drummed his fingers against his hipbone. "Just like normal relationship questions. Like, how I got you to go out with me, and what started it all."

Toushiro chuckled softly. "Did you tell them how you knocked me over then shouted the question at me?"

"I didn't shout it."

"You kind of did."

"I was nervous, gimme a break."

Toushiro scoffed tilting his head to press a soft kiss to Yukio's cheek.

"And like the next most popular question," Yukio continued, the hand on his hip, moving lower and hiking Toushiro's thigh up on his own hip. "Is if your ass is as firm as it looks." He swatted Toushiro's butt with an open palm.

"You better be lying about that one."

Yukio rubbed slow circles, soothing the slight sting from the slap. "Maybe."

Toushiro rolled his eyes in exasperation. He hadn't dwelled much on what his men thought of him, as long as they were motivated to work and were happy with their jobs. But was his personal life that much of an interest?

"You're kinda like a celebrity here too, you know," Yukio chuckled.

Toushiro tilted his head to the side. "I don't think so."

"You're like one of the thirteen strongest _shinigami_ in the Soul Society."

Toushiro sighed, when put like that, it would make sense that people would be interested in him. He did already know that he was of more interested than the unseated _shinigami_ , but the thought made him uncomfortable to know that he was constantly being watched, especially now. Yukio must feel the same way with the paparar... whatever they were called.

"Doesn't it make you uncomfortable?" he asked softly, wrapping both his arms around Yukio's shoulders.

Yukio captured his lips in a short, deep kiss, pushing him further into the pillows. "Kinda..." He answered once he pulled back. "I mean, like I got used to it. As long as you're smart about what you do in public, it's really not much of a problem. It would be like ten times worse if I was a movie star, though." He grinned widely. "Don't tell me this is the first time you've been in the papers."

"No... but I've never had anyone from the Ninth try to take my picture like that. It's usually just new recruits looking at me with starry-eyes."

"Yeah, that's why I kept asking if you wanted to like keep this a secret."

"I hadn't realised-"

"It's okay, babe. No harm done."

"You sprained your ankle. Less than ten minutes ago, might I add."

"Well, I mean..." He broke off chuckling and rested his forehead to Toushiro's chest. Toushiro threaded his fingers in the blond strands, massaging his scalp with his fingertips. Yukio hummed in appreciation. "At least this is like much better than training."

Toushiro scoffed, though he was enjoying this as well. After a few minutes of enjoying his head massage Yukio popped back up, bracing his elbows on either side of Toushiro's ribs. Toushiro's questioning hum was cut off by an urgent kiss. His eyes fluttered shut as Yukio crawled over him. His mouth was hot and needy, and although Toushiro didn't know where the sudden need had come from, he couldn't say that he wasn't enjoying it. Yukio tugged at his bottom lip with his teeth, pulling back for a second before diving back in. Toushiro clung to Yukio's shoulders, pulling him closer and not caring that most of his weight was resting on top of him. He dug his fingers into the muscles over Yukio's shoulder blades, nearly moaning into the kiss. One of Yukio's hands was still on his ass, kneading almost roughly now. Toushiro lightly grazed his nails up and down Yukio's back, causing the boy to shiver slightly. Their mouths moved together, teeth occasionally bumping. Toushiro could feel his lips being rubbed raw, but that was secondary to the heat he felt all over his body. Yukio was pressed flush against him, their chests moved together as he hiked Toushiro's leg higher up on his waist. They had been back for over a week, but apart from a few kisses when they saw each other, they hadn't done anything like this. He hadn't realised how much he missed it until now.

Still, he broke the kiss, his heart pounding as he looked up into Yukio's eyes. The boy's lips were red and there was a blush on his cheeks. Toushiro reached up to cup his jaw; Yukio turned his head to softly kiss his palm.

"We... should stop," Toushiro said reluctantly. "We have work soon."

Yukio sighed. "You can be late for once."

"Have I ever told you how funny you are?"

...

Despite healing Yukio's leg to the best of his ability, Toushiro cancelled their next training session. He would rather be cautious than to have Yukio further injure himself if they trained. But that meant that they didn't see each other that morning and Yukio came crashing into the office almost half an hour before the workday ended. Toushiro sighed heavily, hoping that Yukio would let him finish this report.

"Hey, Toushiro," he said, walking over to Toushiro's desk and peaking at his report. "Hi, Rangiku."

Toushiro grumbled a reply.

"Hi, Yukio," Rangiku answered, shuffling some papers around. "I'm going to head out early today, Captain." She set the papers into a folder and slipped it into her desk drawer. "You should too."

Toushiro scoffed. "I hope you finished all your work."

"Of course, who do you think I am?"

"Do you really expect an answer for that?"

She chuckled. "Anyway, Captain, go enjoy your date. Look how patiently Yukio is waiting."

"Date?" He glanced to Yukio who just shrugged.

Rangiku cackled as she left.

"You two are like really close, huh?" Yukio observed.

Toushiro hummed. "She didn't give me a choice in the matter. I just have to read this through once more then we can leave. What's this about a date?"

"I just came to ask if you like wanted to get dinner together."

"Yes, that would be nice."

Yukio waited patiently on the couch, playing with his game console while Toushiro finished reviewing the report. They went to a restaurant that was a bit out of the way; neither eager to run into anyone from the Ninth this time. It was a small establishment, run by a husband and wife, but the food was good and there was live entertainment.

"How's your leg doing?" Toushiro asked as they walked back from the restaurant. He was holding onto Yukio's arm, resting his cheek against his shoulder.

"It's fine. Almost as good as new."

"Almost?"

"A bit sore? Noting much."

Toushiro hummed. "I should take a look at it."

"So we'll head back to my place?"

Toushiro chewed the inside of his cheek. "Actually, I was thinking that you could come over to mine."

Yukio nearly stumbled. "Um, yes."

Toushiro chuckled softly, nuzzling against Yukio's shoulder.

"Fair warning, though, you won't be able to get me out of your bed."

That really wasn't a problem, however. They just had to stop at Yukio's room for him to gather his extensive list of face-washes, masks, and creams, and just as many hair-care products. Toushiro's quarters were separated from the main barracks by a well-tended garden. It was far enough away that he could enjoy his privacy while still being close enough that he could jump into action when needed. There were a few perks that came with the job. He had his own kitchen, a small bathroom, and decently-sized living area.

Once inside, Yukio began scowling at him. He folded his arms across his chest as he dropped his overnight bag to the floor. "You, asshole. I can't believe you made me sleep in the barracks while you were hiding this."

Toushiro shrugged. "I wasn't hiding it."

"Right. Well you have like more than enough space for me and my things."

Toushiro shook his head; he hadn't expected anything different from the boy. "The bedroom is that way. Do you want tea or anything?"

"Sure," Yukio called back, already heading to the bedroom. "Oh, this is actually nice!"

Toushiro rolled his eyes, as he sifted through his cupboards for a pair of cups and some herbal tea. He knew he had some lavender-flavoured something that Yukio would like. He heard the boy rummaging around his bedroom, but he had drifted off into the bathroom by the time the tea was done. Toushiro carried both cups to the bathroom, halting in the doorway when he saw Yukio at the sink in nothing but a pair of black boxer-briefs. He now understood why Yukio had just stood and stared that one time in the Living World. Toushiro's bathroom was nowhere near as grand as Yukio's had been. If anything it was pretty shabby in comparison. But Yukio didn't seem to mind, already started with his night-time routine. Toushiro leaned against the door frame watching him. His back muscles were definitely getting more defined; stretching as he unscrewed his creams and rubbed them into his face. The mole on his shoulder blade was stark against the rest of his skin, as Toushiro's eyes trailed from his shoulders down to the waistband of his underwear that sat dangerously low on his hips. There was a splattering of tiny, moles on the back of his right thigh and a few on his calves. A small part of Toushiro was delighted that he kept on discovering more. Yukio shifted and Toushiro's eyes snapped back up, a part of him wanted to linger on his ass, but he saw that Yukio was looking at him in the reflection of the mirror. He blushed, clearing his throat and finally entering the bathroom.

"Hey, babe," Yukio said, smiling. "It's okay, you can stare." Toushiro set one of the cups down on the sink counter, taking a sip from his own to hide his blush. Yukio twisted the cap back onto his moisturiser and picked up the cup of tea. "This is nice."

Toushiro grinned into his mug, turning to head to the bedroom. Yukio quickly finished up and met Toushiro on his futon. It would be a bit small for the both of them, but Yukio tended to cuddle in his sleep, so it might not be a problem. He patted the spot next to him and Yukio happily flopped down onto the mattress, nearly knocking over the bottle of oil Toushiro had set down.

"Give me your foot," he instructed.

Yukio raised an eyebrow. "I told you it was fine."

"No," he shook his head, "it still looks a bit red."

Yukio shrugged, swinging his ankle onto Toushiro's lap. "Well, free foot massage, I'm not complaining." He reached over to his bag and pulled out his tablet – as Toushiro had been recently informed. "I'm putting on a movie."

Toushiro nodded, already inspecting his ankle. He prodded it a bit and carefully rotated the joint. It was mostly healed, but he still felt a bit guilty that he had caused it in the first place. He poured a bit of oil onto his palm and rubbed his hands together to warm it up. He started with the ankle itself, gently working his fingers around the bone. Yukio took good care of his feet, Tosuhiro wasn't surprised at this, the skin was soft and his nails were clean. Toushiro had seen some _shinigami's_ feet; he would have never offered to give him a massage if they had looked anything like that. Yukio held back a snicker as he moved down to the sole of his foot.

"Ticklish?" he asked with a smile.

"So are you." Yukio stuck out his tongue.

Toushiro scoffed, pouring out a bit more oil.

"You're like really good at this."

Toushiro glanced to him. He had propped himself up on a few pillows and was staring right back. The movie was playing, but neither of them was very interested in it. "You think so?"

"Yeah, is it like another one of your hidden talents?"

"My hidden talents?" Toushiro pressed his thumbs into the ball of his foot, smoothing it out and rubbing small circles.

Yukio grinned cheekily and Toushiro almost regretted asking. "Yeah, the other is you give amazing head."

He did regret asking as a vivid blush took over his face. He looked away as Yukio cackled. "Let's keep that secret, shall we?"

"Of course, babe." He didn't hear Yukio move and was surprised when he felt his lips against his cheek. "Don't want anyone else tryna see if it's true."

Toushiro rolled his eyes. "You're insufferable."

Yukio kissed him in response.

Toushiro ended up doing both of Yukio's feet; the boy was nearly catatonic by the time he had finished. Toushiro went to wash his hands, then curled up next to Yukio on the pillow. Yukio wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him against his chest.

"I think it's time we had a conversation, babe."

Toushiro tilted his head, listening to Yukio's heartbeat. "About?"

Yukio's chest rose as he took a deep breath. "I might be like reading this wrong, but are we gonna... like have sex tonight?"

Toushiro shot upright. His face was on fire as he looked at Yukio. The boy's cheeks were red as well, and he looked nervous. Toushiro swallowed thickly. "I... I... if you want to." His blanket had never been more interesting.

"We don't have to like rush anything," Yukio mumbled. "I just thought..."

Toushiro dug his index finger into the blanket, disrupting a clump of down feathers through the fabric. "I... I thought about it too." He took a deep breath. "I actually thought we would have... in the Living World."

Yukio sat up. "Seriously?" Toushiro felt his cheeks heat even further. Yukio pulled him into a tight hug, chastely kissing his cheek. "Well, I guess..." he nuzzled against Toushiro's neck. "Didn't want to rush things."

Toushiro hesitantly returned the embrace. His heart was thudding so heavily that he was positive that Yukio could feel it. "Are we rushing?"

"I..." Yukio trailed off, pulling away so he could look Toushiro in the face. "I think the question should be like are you ready?"

Toushiro swallowed again, unable to hold Yukio's gaze. "I think so."

Yukio hooked a finger under his chin, gently forcing him to look at him. "You _think_ so?"

Toushiro opened his mouth, but no words came out. He thought back to the conversation he had with Rangiku. He was fairly positive that he was ready, but he couldn't deny that he was nervous. He did trust Yukio not to hurt him, but this was all unfamiliar territory to him. "I am. I'm just..."

"It's okay to be scared; it's your first time." Yukio cupped his cheek, smiling encouragingly.

Toushiro bit the inside of his cheek. "Is it going to hurt? I've heard-"

Yukio's eyes widened and he shook his head. "It shouldn't... maybe slightly..." he clenched his jaw, breathing out deeply through his nose as he ran his thumb across Toushiro's cheek. "No. You're assuming you'd bottom?"

"I... um... yes?"

Yukio chuckled. "It's whatever you're comfortable with, babe."

Toushiro took a deep breath. "Then, yes. I would rather... be on the bottom." He could feel steam rising from his face. He honestly couldn't picture himself topping; he would have no idea what to do. What if he accidently hurt Yukio in his experience? He would never be able to forgive himself. At least Yukio would know what he was doing.

"You just thought of something that like made you panic, didn't you?"

"I don't want to hurt you... I wouldn't know what I was doing."

Yukio smiled and kissed his forehead. "Okay, if you want to bottom then we'll do it like that."

"Okay." Toushiro felt a little tension ease from his body with just the fact that Yukio had given him the choice. He took a deep breath through his nose. He probably wasn't going to stop feeling nervous until it was done. But, it wasn't like he didn't want to do it. Beneath his anxiety he could make out a layer of excitement. Of thrill. So, he wrapped his arms around Yukio's neck and leaned in for a kiss.

Yukio met him with enthusiasm tilting his head sideways and opening his mouth. Toushiro's eyes fluttered shut as he held onto Yukio. If he could just force himself to stay in the moment, to concentrate on what was happening right then, he would have no reason to be scared. He had kissed Yukio countless times now. Kissing was good, feeling Yukio was good. He threaded his hands in his hair once more, gently deepening the kiss. He tasted of the lavender tea they had had earlier, his mouth was searing hot and was all that Toushiro needed right now. Already, he felt heat rush through his body. Yukio gently nudged him backwards so that he was laying flat on his back, and crawled over him. The position was familiar from many make-out sessions, but Toushiro couldn't help but feel a trill of novel excitement. Yukio settled between his legs, propping himself up on his elbows as he attacked Toushiro's mouth. Toushiro let one of his hands wonder from Yukio's hair down the back of his neck, to where he pressed his fingertips against Yukio's shoulder blades. He could feel muscle moving under smooth skin, and the heat from his body as he pressed their chests together.

He let out a shaky breath as Yukio kissed down his neck, pausing to suck at his pulse. Toushiro tilted his head back, clutching onto Yukio's shoulders. He nipped the spot gently before kissing lower, pulling Toushiro's _yukata_ apart to leave a series of kisses on his collarbone. Toushiro traced his spine with one hand following the curve, before he hit the waistband of his underwear.

Yukio hastily untied Toushiro's _yukata_ , pushing the sides apart to reveal his chest. The hem had already slipped past his thighs when Yukio had hiked his leg up over his waist. Toushiro lay panting beneath him. His entire body felt like it was on fire, sensitive to Yukio's touch. Yukio rested his palms against Toushiro's ribs, kissing his sternum before sitting back on his heels. Toushiro tired to slow his breathing during the small respite. Yuko stared down at him with heavy-lidded, darkened eyes. Toushiro knew that he was searching for confirmation. If they went forward they would be at the next stage in their relationship. Toushiro raised his hand to trace the splatter of small moles on Yukio's ribs. It was amusing that he had them everywhere but his face.

"Babe," he mumbled, catching Toushiro's hand and bringing it to his lips. "Are you absolutely positive about this?"

Toushiro nodded. "I am."

...

"You ready for lunch, babe?" Yukio announced himself, opening the door to the office.

" _Babe_?" Toushiro was positive that Ranigku had given herself whiplash with how quickly she looked up. "When did that happen?"

Yukio laughed. "For a while now, actually. You like never heard me call him that?"

Ranigku cocked her head, looking at Toushiro. "Huh. What does he call you?"

Toushiro rolled his eyes, tapping the butt of his pen against the page he was going through. " _Yukio_. Give me a few minutes to finish up here."

"Figures," Rangiku pouted. "He doesn't have a romantic bone in his body. Anyway, Captain, I'm gonna be late coming back from lunch."

Yukio waited until Rangiku had left before he asked. "Does she know?"

Toushiro shrugged. "I don't think so, but that probably means she does."

"I have literally no words. She's... amazing." Yukio gracelessly flopped onto the couch.

Toushiro chuckled, going back to his work. He glanced at his desk calendar; the report was due next week. That should give him enough time to make edits.

"There's only one month left of your training," he mused quietly as something tightened in his chest.

Yukio sighed. "It passed so quickly."

Toushiro chewed the inside of his cheek, forgoing his report for the time being. He'd been so caught up in their relationship that he hadn't thought of what would happen when Yukio had to go back home. His chest tightened further and he frowned. Could this really be coming to an end so soon? He startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Yukio smiled down at him, and then wordlessly slid onto his lap. He wrapped one arm around his shoulders and took his hand with the other, squeezing gently. He was a bit heavy, but nothing that Toushiro hadn't been expecting.

"You okay, babe?"

"Yes, it's just going to be strange not having you around."

"Are you gonna miss me?" Yukio smirked.

Toushiro raised an eyebrow. "We are dating, Yukio. I hope that was a rhetorical question."

"We can spend weekends together. I guess I can like come over during the week sometimes. We'll make it work."

Toushiro nodded.

"And, we'll just have to make the most of this last month, won't we?"

...

Toushiro had to jump away to avoid Yukio's uppercut. He nodded in approval; Yukio's movements were quick and fluid. Perfectly controlled and calculated. He felt pride swell in his chest as he ducked under a jab to his chest. Yukio's eyes were narrowed, searching. His hair was pinned back a few stray stands stuck to his sweaty forehead. They were at the waterfall again, jumping over rocks and boulders as they sparred. The ends of Toushiro's _hakama_ were wet and heavy from when Yukio had forced him into the shallow water. Yukio was lucky, having worn shorts that morning and choosing to spar barefoot again. Wet _tobi_ and _waraji_ were not the most comfortable things in the world. Yukio had kept him on the defensive for most of the match – though Toushiro could have turned the tide if he wanted to, he was more interested in seeing how Yukio would handle it.

He had improved by leaps and bounds since their first session and now that there were only a few more lessons to go, Toushiro wasn't sure what else he could teach him. Yukio attacked with a side kick next, Toushiro avoided it, but his follow-up was quick. Toushiro narrowly avoided a punch to the ribs, and he jumped back, increasing the distance between them. Yukio took a beat to assess Toushiro's new position before jumping in. He would have no trouble defending himself against most untrained humans now, Toushiro was confident of that. He spun to the side, positioning himself at Yukio's back. It would have been a good move to switch from the defensive, but again, he didn't want to. Yukio was a bit slow to turn around, but the speed of his side-kick almost made up for it. Almost. He attacked with a volley of punches next, surprising Toushiro by feinting to the right. He might have been taking it too easy, he thought, as Yukio switched directions, bringing in his left arm for a jab to Toushiro's shoulder.

He quickly assessed the speed of the punch. He had seen the opening and went for it. Good. Against an opponent of equal skill it would have landed with ease, so Toushiro halted his movements for a split second allowing the blow to hit. He grunted softly, stepping backwards and straightening. The look on Yukio' face was priceless. His eyes were wide with disbelief and his mouth hung open. He was frozen with his arm held out, palm curled into a fist, with his knees slightly bent.

Toushiro chuckled, offering a slow clap. "Congratulations. You win this round."

Yukio gapped for a bit, before snapping out of his trance and brining his hands up to yank and his hair. "Wha... did I actually do that?"

Toushiro grinned, nodding. Yukio was practically vibrating with excitement. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, slowly spinning in a circle. Toushiro shook his head at his antics, though he was cute when he was this happy. He tucked his hands into his sleeves, as Yukio processed what had happened. His eyes were sparkling when he turned back around and when he locked gazes with Toushiro he smiled so wide that his eyes crinkled. The next thing he knew, Yukio had scooped him up in his arms and was spinning him in a circle. He squawked, holding tightly onto Yukio, but didn't have the heart to tell him to put him down. He let him ride out his excitement, until he eventually set him down, gently holding his hips. Toushiro held him close, resting his arms on his shoulders.

"I'm proud of you," Toushiro said, massaging the back of his head.

Yukio was still grinning widely and Toushiro had a feeling that he would remain like that for the rest of the day. His smile was contagious, however, even as he dipped his head to give Toushiro a deep kiss.

...

The debriefing with Kyoraku was a bit of a bitter-sweet moment. The training program was successful, but Toushiro didn't want Yukio to leave. He did ask permission for Yukio be able to enter the _Seireitei_ as he pleased and Kyoraku happily granted a pass. He walked Yukio to the _Senkaimon_ holding tightly onto his arm. Yukio's bags were already waiting for him, although he had left a majority of his things in Toushiro's quarters. Toushiro's chest felt tight, and there was something stuck in his throat. He was afraid that if he tried to clear it, it wouldn't end well. They stopped just out of the guards' hearing range and Yukio turned to face him.

"Don't look so sad, babe," he mumbled, looking sad himself. He pulled Toushiro against his chest and he deflated against him. "I'll be back next weekend, promise."

Toushiro sighed, resting his forehead against his collarbone. "I know. The office is going to be much quieter without you."

"I'll miss you too."

Toushiro balled the back of his coat in his fist, swallowing against the lump in his throat. "Keep practicing your _hakuda_. You can get rusty if you don't, and all my hard work will go to waste."

"Yes, sir. And, you, don't work through lunch, and try to leave the office at a decent time. If I get wind that you've been working overtime I'm coming back here to get you."

Toushiro took a deep breath, taking in Yukio's smell. Gods, he was going to miss this boy. "I'll try."

He heard Yukio chuckle softly, and then he hooked a finger under his chin, making him look up. There was a sad smile on his face. "It's just a week, then we'll see each other again." He seemed to be trying to console himself more than Toushiro. "You're going to be mine on the weekend."

The corners of Toushiro's mouth quirked upwards. He stretched up, narrowing in on Yukio's lips. He honestly didn't care that there was a potential audience, or that the Ninth could be lurking somewhere around. He kissed Yukio full on the mouth, cupping the back of his head. He tried to say all that he couldn't put into words in the kiss. _I'll miss you so much, I love you, thank you._ Yukio responded just as passionately, his arms wrapping tightly around Toushiro's waist. Their mouths opened and closed against each other. There were a few nips and licks, and their tongues entwined. He tangled his fingers in Yukio's hair, pulling softly and holding on to ground himself. Yukio pulled him flush against his body, tracing his spine through his uniform. Toushiro's eyes had long since closed, just focusing on the feel of Yukio against him, his hot, silky mouth, his body pressed firmly against his, his hair as it slid through his fingers, and his hands that sent heated jolts as he boldly travelled down his back until he daringly squeezed his butt.

Toushiro broke the kiss with a gasp, taking a step backwards and quickly glancing around. "Yukio-"

"I had to," he smirked. "I need to make the memory last for a whole week."

Toushiro felt his cheeks heat, and he brought his hand to his mouth, pressing his fingers to his swelling lips. The memory would last, he knew it.

* * *

 **Well that's the final chapter guys :)**

 **Once again thanks to Lethan Wolf for requesting this fic, and thanks for encouraging me as it turned into this complete monster. B**

 **As always the full explicit version is posted on my Tumblr. Link is in my profile.**

 **-Mymomomo**


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